Jordan Tannahill is considered to be one of the freshest faces representing Canadian young Canadian playwrights today, redefining what it means to work as an artist both for himself and emerging artists everywhere. J. Kelly Nestruck of the Globe and Mail hailed him as “the poster child of a new generation of…artists for whom ‘interdisciplinary’ is not a buzz word, but a way of life.” Jordan works in Toronto as a playwright, screenwriter, dancer, director and visual artist. He also hosts a studio for alternative art boldly known as Videofag. He produces Videofag work mostly through his theatre company Suburban Beast, and a film company called Short Haul Engine.

Tannahill’s first published work for the theatre, Age of Minority: Three Solo Plays, is a collection of three plays that won him multiple outstanding awards. Peter Fetcher: 59 Minutes captures the last hour in a teenager’s life before he is shot while attempting to cross the Berlin Wall with his companion. Homosexuality is the basis of the second play, Get Yourself Home Skyler James, where a young lesbian escapes the army after being ousted by fellow soldiers. The final play in this collection is not actually meant to be performed on stage. In order to emphasize the YouTube culture that the play draws upon, rihannaboi95 is written to be streamed live over the Internet and seen at home.

Jordan is a strong advocate for the presence of risk and failure, dialogue stimulation and artistic voice in all mediums he finds himself in. And these aspects have led him to great accomplishments. At twenty-six years old, Jordan was the youngest playwright ever to win the Governor General Award in Drama when Age of Minority was published in 2014. The collection also won him a Dora Mavor Moore Award for outstanding New Play, as well as the Emerging Artist award from Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. As he continues to grow, any Canadian theatre lover should look out for the promising work of Jordan Tannahill.

Written by Jordan Sabo.