Dave Carley - Biography

In 2000, Dave was in residence at the Festival of New Works at the University of Michigan, which was then run by two great friends of Canadian playwriting, Frank Gagliano and Mary Lou Chlipala. While there, he developed and presented his stage dramatization of Margaret Atwood's novel, The Edible Woman. First produced as a radio play on CBC, the stage version was directed in Michigan by Sara Chazen, and a later premiere in Canada was directed by Christopher McHarge and Michael Waller at Theatre on the Grand, in Fergus, Ontario.

Dave Carley giving acceptance speech, after receiving the Arthur Miller Playwriting Award at the University of Michigan in 2002.
Photo by Harry Bloomberg.

In 2002, Dave's radio series Test Drive was broadcast on CBC Radio One and Two. The story of an American Motors dealer and the car industry over the past fifty years, Test Drive starred Gordon Pinsent as Earl Hughes. The radio series won the Bronze Medal at the New York International Radio Festival (Best Play). In the summer of 2004, the stage version of Test Drive premiered at Ontario's Blyth Festival, starring Eric Coates, Darren Keay and Jane Spidell. Miles Potter directed the play, which proved to be one of the most popular offerings in Blyth's history, according to an audience poll.

Dave's new play Orchidelirium had a workshop premiere at the Festival of New Works at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, in May 2002. The stage premiere took place Toronto's Factory Theatre, in March, 2003. Sue Miner directed the Theatre Voce-Pea Green production. While in rehearsal, Dave managed to achieve a new high in playwright-avoiding-rewrites: an angiogram test at St. Michael's Hospital revealed massive arterial blockage and Dave had an emergency heart bypass operation. He missed the final week of rehearsals and the opening night of Orchidelirium but was frisky enough to see the show by closing. His heart remains firmly ticking and Orchidelirium went on to have its New York premiere in 2004. A mid-west US premiere in Columbus, Ohio took place in early 2005 at the Franklin Park Conservatory, the first environmental production of the play.

One of Dave's most successful radio plays was presented on June 6, 2004, the 60th Anniversary of the D Day invasion of Normandy. Written with Glenda MacFarlane, The Final Hour examines the thoughts and conversations of five young soldiers from the Royal Winnipeg Rifles in the last minutes before landing and was a finalist for both the New York International Radio Award (best play) and the Canadian Screenwriting Award. A stage version of The Final Hour is being developed with Glenda and will premiere in the near future.