He is the winner of the Dora, Sterling, and Carol Bolt awards for Outstanding New Play. He is also the recipient of the City of Edmonton Arts Achievement Award, the University of Alberta Alumni Award, and the Governor General’s Award for Drama, Canada’s highest honour for playwriting. He was recently nominated for a City of Edmonton Award for Outstanding Artistic Leadership. After seven years living and working in New York City, Vern returned to Edmonton in 2014 to become Artistic Director of Workshop West Playwrights' Theatre. He is married to best-selling novelist Susie Moloney.
The Breakfast is presented by the Robertson-Wesley Stewardship Committee at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 21, 2017 at Robertson-Wesley United Church (10209-123 Street, Edmonton).
Vern will speak to the Stewardship theme this year “Knock, Knock…Believe, Seek, Open” and how what he believes in has opened doors for him in his life and in his career. Vern says that on his return to Edmonton and to Workshop West he asked himself, "How could the theatre better serve the citizens of this city?" An article in the April 2016 edition of Avenue Magazine talks about the YEG project where Vern commissioned eight local playwrights to "embed themselves in different parts of the city and search for their stories." Vern's ideas of seeing community and community building are also a part of our Stewardship theme.
Tickets are $20 and can be purchased in advance at Robertson-Wesley United Church. For more information call 780 482-1587.