Guests of Chance

Colleen Curran is a Montrealer of Irish heritage, and her lifelong "French immersion" has given her the gift of the gab in both official languages. Her first novel, Something Drastic, was a finalist for the first Prix Parizeau, and Nicola Canvendish's reading of it is a perennial favourite on CBC Radio's Between the Covers. Pamela Wallin said Curran's second novel, Overnight Sensation, "made me laugh out loud . . ." and The Globe and Mail called Lenore "a regular comedy machine." The genius for dramatic comedy so apparent in Curran's hilarious novels also permeates the plays for which she has become a well-known figure in Canadian theatre. As well as writing CBC radio drama, she has had numerous plays produced on stage in Canada and the US, including her Bayview Trilogy: Cakewalk, Miss Balmoral of the Bayview and Local Talent. Cakewalk alone has been produced more than 40 times. It was published in 2000, and Whoopi Goldberg later acquired it for her Showtime TV series. Local Talent, which launched Primedia's Stage on Screen series, was nationally seen on Bravo, and Maple Lodge was selected and published by Samuel French Inc. as the best Canadian play of 1999. The stage version of Something Drastic was performed at Prairie Theatre Exchange in April 2002 and has also been staged at theatres in Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal. A former playwright-in-residence at Montreal's Centaur Theatre, Colleen Curran is now co-artistic director of the Triumvirate Theatre Company in Montreal.Curran, Colleen is the author of 'Guests of Chance ', published 2005 under ISBN 9780864924384 and ISBN 0864924380.