The Fredericton Playhouse selection committee has recognized and awarded playwright, director and educator, Len Falkenstein as the Playhouse Honours recipient for 2023.
Len has been at the center of Fredericton’s vibrant theatre scene for 24 years as a visionary director of over 90 productions, an award-winning playwright who has toured his shows across Canada, an accomplished actor, and a dedicated instructor of many hundreds of UNB theatre and playwriting students.
“There is much to say about Len’s artistic achievements, work ethic, talent and commitment to building theatre in Fredericton,” says John Ball, a member of the Playhouse Board. “The dozens of young people he’s worked with who went on to professional schools and careers as actors, directors, playwrights, technicians; the loyalty he shows to his company members; the innovative approaches he has brought to so many shows; the fight direction training he did so he could bring more skills to the community; and the uncomplaining way he works harder than pretty much anyone I know.”
Len Falkenstein is Director of Drama at the University of New Brunswick, where he teaches courses in theatre and playwriting and, since joining the UNB English department in 1999, has directed dozens of productions for Theatre UNB. He is also co-founder and Artistic Director (since 2002) of Fredericton’s NotaBle Acts Theatre Company, which is dedicated to developing and producing new plays by New Brunswick playwrights, and the founder and Artistic Director (since 2006) of Fredericton’s outdoor Shakespeare company Bard in the Barracks.
According to Ryan Griffith, “he has had, and continues to have, a tremendous impact on his students, and a tremendous impact on nearly every practicing theatre artist in Fredericton.”
Len’s plays have been produced across the country at Fringe festivals, Toronto’s SummerWorks Performance Festival, the NotaBle Acts Theatre Festival, and the Saint John Theatre Company’s Canadian Stages series. They include Lac/Athabasca (second prize winner, Herman Voaden national playwriting competition; published by Playwrights Canada Press); Utopia (second prize winner, Ottawa Little Theatre national one act playwriting competition); Doppelgänger (published in Ryga, volume 1), Soft Target, Free/Fall, Happy City, and, premiering in November 2023 at Theatre New Brunswick, Wood Buffalo.
Len is a native of Macklin, Saskatchewan and holds a Ph.D in English from the University of Alberta and Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from the University of Saskatchewan, and was a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee medal. He lives in Fredericton with his wife, Sue Fisher, and daughter, Muriel.
As the recipient of the 2023 Playhouse Honours, Len Falkenstein will join sixteen other local performing arts pioneers bestowed this prestigious award over the years.
The Fredericton Playhouse acknowledges generous support from promotional partner Atlantic Mediaworks for their contribution of services to the program.