PROFESSIONAL CAREER

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After graduating, Margaret started her professional career at the New Play Centre in Vancouver under the leadership of  Doug Bankson and Pamela Hawthorne. Several one act plays were produced. 

Her first full-length production 'Mother Country' was at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto, directed by Bill Glassco.  Over the years, she worked on development and production of her plays with many of Canada's leading directors and dramaturges including  Peter Hinton, Brian Richmond, John Juliani, Jackie Maxwell,  Paul Bettis, Mary Vingoe, Martin Kinch.

The Red Light theatre, an early feminist theatre in Toronto staged Alli Alli Oh, starring Charmian King: it was one of the first lesbian plays to be produced in Canada.   Also in Toronto, Margaret  worked extensively with another feminist theatre, Nightwood, in its early days.

She was Writer-in-Residence at the Stratford Festival and worked on a new play The Green Line with Lucy Peacock and John Neville.

INFLUENCES

Jane Rule: writer, teacher, activist.  She was Margaret's adviser for her MFA at the University of British Columbia and became her friend, mentor and advocate until her death in 2007.

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Richard Pochinko:  Margaret studied clowning with Richard Pochinko at the Theatre Resource Centre in Toronto.   Through this training she learned to hone her instinct, Richard taught that there's no such thing as a mistake.  Pochinko's method was based on a mix of Native Indian clowning and the more rigid European technique.   His teaching resulted in her clown play Poppycock, which was first produced at the Theatre Resource Centre.

Master Shoa Kok Sui:  Margaret studied Arhatic Yoga and Pranic Healing with Master Kok Shui and his associates.  Prana is life force, and Pranic Healing is a form of energy healing using colour and working with the energy-body outside the actual body.  Like clowning, Pranic Healing provided experiences that proved invaluable in her progress as a writer.

More recent influences include Canadian poet Barry Dempster and Canadian/American poet Hoa Ngyen.

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AWARDS: 

Chalmer's Award (Drama)    Ever  Loving

Dora Mavor Moore Award (Drama)   Ever Loving

Jessie Award (Drama)  Ring of Fire

Actra Award  (Radio Drama)

Judges choice:  Last Frontier Edward Albee Theatre Conference, Valdez, Alaska,

(O Positive).

Finalist:     1. Governor General's Award (drama) War Babies

                   2. Journey Prize (Fiction) Beyond Closure  (Capilano Review)

                   3. B.C. Magazine Awards    "    "              "

Governor General's Gold Medal:  Highest graduating student in Faculty of Arts,  Lakehead University.

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ORGANISATIONS:

TWUC  (The Writers' Union of Canada)

PGC (Playwrights Guild of Canada)

ACTRA (The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Radio and Television Artists)

CSARN  (Canadian Senior Artists Resource Network)