Scott Sharplin is a playwright, director, dramaturge, and educator. He received training in playwriting from the National Theatre School of Canada, and holds a B.A. (Honours English) and an M.A. (Humanities Computing) from the University of Alberta. He grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, but currently lives in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.
Directing and Theatre Production
After being introduced to theatre through Victoria Composite High School and the Citadel's Teen Festival of the Arts, Scott co-founded the Carnival of Shrieking Youth theatre festival in 1993, and Sound & Fury Theatre in 2000. He served as Artistic Director of Sound & Fury from 2000-2004, and as Artistic Director of Walterdale Playhouse, Western Canada's longest-running community theatre, from 2005-2007. He is a member of the Playwrights Guild of Canada, Alberta Playwrights Network, and Theatre Alberta.
Playwriting
Scott has had his scripts workshopped and/or produced by Lunchbox Theatre, Theatre Network, Workshop West, Sound & Fury Theatre, Theatre Squared, Alberta Playwrights' Network, Playwrights' Theatre Centre, Theatre BC, The National Theatre School, and Playwrights' Workshop Montreal. His one-act play Burnt Remains was published in the anthology "Staging Alternative Albertas" (Playwrights Canada Press, 2002), and Purity Test won the 2002 Alberta Playwriting Competition (Full Length Category).
Scott enjoys creating small-cast adaptations of Shakespeare plays, some of which have been produced by Free Will Players, The Shakespeare Company, and Sound & Fury Theatre. He has also adapted numerous prose works for the stage, including writing by Edgar Allan Poe, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Robert Louis Stevenson.
Teaching
Scott teaches Play Production and Directing at Cape Breton University. In the past, he taught for Edmonton's Grant MacEwan College, including courses in English, Drama, Science Fiction, Gothic Horror, Creative Writing, and Shakespeare in Film. He has also done contract work with Athabasca University, Canada's leading distance education institution, developing course material and online learning resources.