Janis Spence: Chickens, Cats and the Responsibility of Love

• Published in: Canadian Theatre Review
• Main Author: Lynde, Denyse
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) 1991
• Subjects: Visual Arts and Performing Arts; Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/ctr.69.009; https://ctr.utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/ctr.69.009

St John’s, Newfoundland has discovered a new and exciting voice in playwright Janis Spence. With a background during the 70s and ‘80s at the LSPU Hall in collective creation and directing, her experience is not unusual for local artists; but, unlike most, she has taken this on-the-job training and applied it to the craft of playwriting with impressive results. After acting in collectives with the Mummers and then with the Resource Centre for the Arts, directing and collaborating on Live Soap with Cathy Jones, … And this is Bob and Irene with Greg Thomey and Dorothy and fames with Rick Boland, Spence realized that writing was what she wanted to do. In 1987, while writing another version of Live Soap, this time with Greg Thomey, Spence began to write on her own. She is aprolific artist, writing and directing Chickens in ‘88, Cat Lover in ‘90, Naked Bungalow, a collaborative project with Elizabeth Pickard and John Whalen in March ‘91 and Ghost Town, a working title for a play scheduled for the 1991–92 RCA season.