David French

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For other persons named David French, see David French (disambiguation).

David French (born in 1939) is a Canadian playwright.

[edit] Biography

In 1945, David French moved to Toronto from Coley’s Point, Newfoundland. During his young school years David was a sport fanatic, he did not enjoy the academic side of school. When he was in eighth grade he read Tom Sawyer and he knew he wanted to be a writer. At the age of sixteen he had a short story published in First Flowering. His first real encounter with theatre was a touring production of Shakespeare at high school. In 1959, he traveled widely in the United States, studying for the summer at the Pasadena Playhouse, California. From 1960-1965 he worked as an actor for CBC-TV.

In 1962 he sold his first playscript, Beckons the Dark River. Once he had started writing plays he made the transition he desired from actor to writer. In 1972, after taking some time to write a novel, he decided to dramatize some of the personal experiences of his youth after he had moved away from his native province. The outcome was Leaving Home, an instant success in its Tarragon Theatre production and a finalist for the 1972 Chalmers Award. Its sequel, Of the Fields, Lately, also attained popular and critical esteem, and won the 1973 Chalmers Award. David French continues to write, dividing his time between Toronto and a summer retreat in P.E.I. He is currently working on another play about the Mercer family and on a film version of One Crack Out.

David is also an Officer of the Order of Canada.