Norm Foster

Ed Mullaly (University of New Brunswick, Fredericton)

Ed. by Glen Nichols, Mount Allison University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.1.2: Canadian Writing and Culture (Anglophone): The Twentieth Century and beyond, 1900-present.
Vol. editors: Nicole Kennedy (University of Newcastle), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Glen Nichols (Mount Allison University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Wendy Roy (University of Saskatchewan), Denis Salter (McGill University), Sean Seeger (University of Essex), Karis Shearer (University of British Columbia)

Dates

Born 14 Feb 1949
Activity 1981-ongoing

Places

Born in Canada
Active in Canada

Activities

Primary

Playwright / Dramatist
Theatre actor

Resources

Norm Foster (b. 1949) is generally recognized as Canada's most produced playwright. In a Globe and Mail article, theatre commentator Richard Ouzounian linked the Fredericton writer with Alan Ayckbourn (England) and Neil Simon (United States) as the three most talked-about playwrights of their respective countries. Significantly, producers, especially of summer stock, now speak about “doing a Norm Foster” just as they used to talk about “doing a Neil Simon”. Foster's humour does indeed contain echoes of the plot-driven comedies of Simon and Ayckbourn, but his writing also reflects the work of comic, character-driven playwrights such as Woody Allen and television comedians such as Jerry Seinfeld, combining the virtues of traditional stage plays with those of popular electronic culture.

Foster's path into comedy began with acting roles as Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey (this production...

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1185 words

Citation: Mullaly, Ed. "Norm Foster". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 April 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5318, accessed 06 December 2025.]