APN | Paul Maywychuk


Site Links: APN Home Catalogue Index List of playwrights List of plays Search for a play Create a profile/ Submit a play Submit changes to your profile or play or send us a photo Other on-line catalogues: Playwrights Development Centres of Canada The Dramatic Exchange International Centre for Women Playwrights La Ronde - Playwrights Ring Playwrights' Workshop Montreal Playmarket - New Zealand Playwrights Playwrights Guild of Canada Virtual Library & Bookstore Playwrights Canada Press New Theatre Publications (England) Samuel French Catalogue ProPlay (British Columbia) Victorian Drama League (Australia) Dramatists Play Service (USA) Play Bureau (New Zealand) Theatrebooks (Toronto) Playscripts Inc. (USA) Find a play.com (USA)	Paul Matwychuk Jump to list of plays Paul Matwychuk is an Edmonton-based actor, playwright, editor and critic. He began writing and performing plays at the 1995 Edmonton Fringe Festival with the one-man show The Muscular Stepmother. A long string of Fringe shows, most of them also monologues, followed, with Euripides Freakout (1999), Lingerie (2000), President Matwychuk (2001) and A Play About Hell (2002) all earning Sterling nominations for Outstanding Fringe New Work (Euripides Freakout also garnered Paul a nomination for Outstanding Fringe Actor). His 1996 play The Key to Violet's Apartment was published by NeWest Press as part of their collection Nextfest Anthology and was restaged in 2002 by Catalyst Theatre. His play Bloodhound won first prize in the 2004 Alberta Playwriting Competition. His most recent production was the 2004 Fringe hit, The Play I Did at Last Year's Fringe. Selected plays In alphabetical order by title: A Play About Hell Bloodhound The Key to Violet's Apartment Lingerie The Play I Did at Last Year's Fringe To request a copy of any of these plays please contact the playwright directly via telephone: (780) 426-1996 To inquire about performance rights for any of these plays please contact the playwright directly via (780) 426-1996 A Play About Hell by Paul Matwychuk Style: One-person show Number of Acts: One act Length: 80 mins Total actors required: 1 Men: 1 Women: 0 Synopsis: "I know all about Hell. I've been in Hell. I was in Hell for 83 years... and then I met the love of my life." So begins this unique tale of a flawed man who spends more than eight decades languishing in the lake of fire before embarking on a secret, forbidden love affair with a mysterious woman with a surprising secret. A storytelling feast, full of stories within stories, a poem about a blimp and a cave full of spoiled prayers. Sterling nominee, Outstanding Fringe New Work (2002). Production History: Presented by Schnook Theatre, 2002 Edmonton Fringe Festival. Starring Paul Matwychuk, directed by Ben Henderson and featuring live music performed and composed by the Burning Sensations (Lyle Bell and Sean Rivalin). Notes: Return to list Bloodhound by Paul Matwychuk Style: One-person show Number of Acts: Two acts Length: 120 mins Total actors required: 5 Men: 2 Women: 3 Synopsis: SYLVIA meets BODY HEAT in this wildly imaginative thriller about an ordinary man who is dragged into a dangerous world of sex and violence by the talking female dog who lives in the backyard of the house next door. A suspenseful, comic variation on film noir in which not only does the postman always ring twice, but he also gets growled at by the leading lady. Winner of the 2004 Alberta Playwriting Competition (full-length category). Production History: Staged reading at Playworks Ink 2004 in Calgary Directed by Ben Henderson Dramaturged by Jim DeFelice Starring Geoffrey Brumlik, Lora Brovold, Annette Loiselle, Celina Stachow and Fred Zbryski. Return to list The Key to Violet's Apartment by Paul Matwychuk Style: One-person show Number of Acts: One act Length: 60 mins Total actors required: 1 Men: 1 Women: 0 Synopsis: "If you could be a girl for one day, just to see what it was like, would you do it?" That simple question is the launching pad for this lyrical monologue, which interweaves the story of a man who finds himself imagining how strange and wonderful life would be if he were a woman with the even more intriguing story of a woman who wakes up one morning to find that someone has filled every shoe in her apartment with water. A play about love, marriage and the utter mysteriousness of the opposite sex. Published by NeWest Press in their collection NEXTFEST ANTHOLOGY. Production History: Presented by Schnook Theatre at the 1996 Edmonton Fringe Theatre Festival. Directed by and starring Paul Matwychuk. Notes: THE KEY TO VIOLET'S APARTMENT was restaged in 2002 by Catalyst Theatre as part of their "Blind Dates With Theatre" series in a production starring Paul Matwychuk and directed, designed and scored by Jonathan Christenson. Return to list Lingerie by Paul Matwychuk Style: One-person show Number of Acts: One act Length: 75 mins Total actors required: 1 Men: 1 Women: 0 Synopsis: This fanciful, moving comedy/drama takes the form of a eulogy delivered at the funeral of Gerald Matwychuk, the retired steelworker who became one of the world's most beloved men five years ago when he invented lingerie. (You remember how lingerie didn't exist until five years ago, don't you?) A ridiculous but heartfelt exploration of father/son relationships and the story of two men dealing with loss in very different ways. Sterling nominee, Outstanding Fringe New Work (2001). Production History: Presented by Schnook Theatre at the 2001 Edmonton Fringe Festival. Starring Paul Matwychuk and directed by Ben Henderson. Notes: Return to list The Play I Did at Last Year's Fringe by Paul Matwychuk Style: Comedy Number of Acts: One act Length: 80 mins Total actors required: 5 Men: 4 Women: 1 Synopsis: It's the 2003 Edmonton Fringe Festival, a year when, for a change, playwright/theatre critic Paul Matwychuk did not do a play. Or did he? Everyone he meets seems to think he's doing another one-man show, only this one is making them all extremely angry with him, to the point where not just his reputation but his very life is in danger. Is Paul the victim of an impersonator? A doppelganger? A mass delusion? A hilarious, revealing Kafkaesque Fringe nightmare from one of the Festival's most popular playwrights. Production History: Presented by Schnook Theatre at the 2004 Edmonton Fringe Festival. Directed by Jeff Page and starring Paul Matwychuk (as Paul Matwychuk), Vern Thiessen (as Vern Thiessen), Julien Arnold (as Julien Arnold) and April Banigan and James Hamilton (as various fictional characters). Notes: Return to list

Paul Matwychuk

Paul Matwychuk is an Edmonton-based actor, playwright, editor and critic. He began writing and performing plays at the 1995 Edmonton Fringe Festival with the one-man show The Muscular Stepmother. A long string of Fringe shows, most of them also monologues, followed, with Euripides Freakout (1999), Lingerie (2000), President Matwychuk (2001) and A Play About Hell (2002) all earning Sterling nominations for Outstanding Fringe New Work (Euripides Freakout also garnered Paul a nomination for Outstanding Fringe Actor). His 1996 play The Key to Violet's Apartment was published by NeWest Press as part of their collection Nextfest Anthology and was restaged in 2002 by Catalyst Theatre. His play Bloodhound won first prize in the 2004 Alberta Playwriting Competition. His most recent production was the 2004 Fringe hit, The Play I Did at Last Year's Fringe.

Selected plays
In alphabetical order by title:

A Play About Hell

Bloodhound
The Key to Violet's Apartment
Lingerie
The Play I Did at Last Year's Fringe

To request a copy of any of these plays please contact the playwright directly via telephone: (780) 426-1996

To inquire about performance rights for any of these plays please contact the playwright directly via (780) 426-1996

A Play About Hell
by Paul Matwychuk

Style: One-person show
Number of Acts: One act
Length: 80 mins
Total actors required: 1
Men: 1
Women: 0

Synopsis:
"I know all about Hell. I've been in Hell. I was in Hell for 83 years... and then I met the love of my life." So begins this unique tale of a flawed man who spends more than eight decades languishing in the lake of fire before embarking on a secret, forbidden love affair with a mysterious woman with a surprising secret. A storytelling feast, full of stories within stories, a poem about a blimp and a cave full of spoiled prayers. Sterling nominee, Outstanding Fringe New Work (2002).

Production History:
Presented by Schnook Theatre, 2002 Edmonton Fringe Festival. Starring Paul Matwychuk, directed by Ben Henderson and featuring live music performed and composed by the Burning Sensations (Lyle Bell and Sean Rivalin).

Notes:

Return to list

Bloodhound
by Paul Matwychuk

Style: One-person show
Number of Acts: Two acts
Length: 120 mins
Total actors required: 5
Men: 2
Women: 3

Synopsis:
SYLVIA meets BODY HEAT in this wildly imaginative thriller about an ordinary man who is dragged into a dangerous world of sex and violence by the talking female dog who lives in the backyard of the house next door. A suspenseful, comic variation on film noir in which not only does the postman always ring twice, but he also gets growled at by the leading lady. Winner of the 2004 Alberta Playwriting Competition (full-length category).

Production History:
Staged reading at Playworks Ink 2004 in Calgary

Directed by Ben Henderson

Dramaturged by Jim DeFelice

Starring Geoffrey Brumlik, Lora Brovold, Annette Loiselle, Celina Stachow and Fred Zbryski.

Return to list

The Key to Violet's Apartment
by Paul Matwychuk

Style: One-person show
Number of Acts: One act
Length: 60 mins
Total actors required: 1
Men: 1
Women: 0

Synopsis:
"If you could be a girl for one day, just to see what it was like, would you do it?" That simple question is the launching pad for this lyrical monologue, which interweaves the story of a man who finds himself imagining how strange and wonderful life would be if he were a woman with the even more intriguing story of a woman who wakes up one morning to find that someone has filled every shoe in her apartment with water. A play about love, marriage and the utter mysteriousness of the opposite sex. Published by NeWest Press in their collection NEXTFEST ANTHOLOGY.

Production History:
Presented by Schnook Theatre at the 1996 Edmonton Fringe Theatre Festival. Directed by and starring Paul Matwychuk.

Notes:
THE KEY TO VIOLET'S APARTMENT was restaged in 2002 by Catalyst Theatre as part of their "Blind Dates With Theatre" series in a production starring Paul Matwychuk and directed, designed and scored by Jonathan Christenson.

Return to list

Lingerie
by Paul Matwychuk

Style: One-person show
Number of Acts: One act
Length: 75 mins
Total actors required: 1
Men: 1
Women: 0

Synopsis:
This fanciful, moving comedy/drama takes the form of a eulogy delivered at the funeral of Gerald Matwychuk, the retired steelworker who became one of the world's most beloved men five years ago when he invented lingerie. (You remember how lingerie didn't exist until five years ago, don't you?) A ridiculous but heartfelt exploration of father/son relationships and the story of two men dealing with loss in very different ways. Sterling nominee, Outstanding Fringe New Work (2001).

Production History:
Presented by Schnook Theatre at the 2001 Edmonton Fringe Festival. Starring Paul Matwychuk and directed by Ben Henderson.

Notes:

Return to list

The Play I Did at Last Year's Fringe
by Paul Matwychuk

Style: Comedy
Number of Acts: One act
Length: 80 mins
Total actors required: 5
Men: 4
Women: 1

Synopsis:
It's the 2003 Edmonton Fringe Festival, a year when, for a change, playwright/theatre critic Paul Matwychuk did not do a play. Or did he? Everyone he meets seems to think he's doing another one-man show, only this one is making them all extremely angry with him, to the point where not just his reputation but his very life is in danger. Is Paul the victim of an impersonator? A doppelganger? A mass delusion? A hilarious, revealing Kafkaesque Fringe nightmare from one of the Festival's most popular playwrights.

Production History:
Presented by Schnook Theatre at the 2004 Edmonton Fringe Festival. Directed by Jeff Page and starring Paul Matwychuk (as Paul Matwychuk), Vern Thiessen (as Vern Thiessen), Julien Arnold (as Julien Arnold) and April Banigan and James Hamilton (as various fictional characters).

Notes:

Return to list

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Other on-line catalogues:

Paul Matwychuk