New Canadian Kid/Invisible Kids

New Canadian Kid is the story of Nick, a young boy from an imaginary country called Homeland who moves to Canada with his family. There, he is forced to grapple with his fears of a new culture and language, as well as hostile classmates who taunt him for being different. One of Canada’s most widely produced plays for young audiences, it’s been performed around the world. Invisible Kids centres on a group of children from a variety of ethnic backgrounds whose own camaraderie fails to instruct them on how to deal with the very adult issues of immigration and institutionalized racism when the sister of one of the children is prevented from joining her family in Canada because of immigrant quotas.In both plays the spirit of youth prevails over differences in colour and culture, promoting the message that in the end, kids are all the same inside.

AUTHOR

Dennis Foon

Dennis Foon was co-founder of Vancouver’s acclaimed Green Thumb Theatre and served as artistic director for twelve years. As a playwright, his body of plays continues to be produced internationally in numerous languages and he has received the British Theatre Award, two Chalmers Canadian Play Awards, the Jesse Richardson Career Achievement Award, and the International Arts for Young Audiences Award. In 2007 he was made a lifetime member of the Playwrights Guild of Canada for his “outstanding contribution to Canadian Playwriting and Theatre.” He’s won a Gemini, two WGC Awards, three Leos, and a Robert W. Wagner Award for his screenplays, which include Little Criminals, White Lies, Torso, and Terry. He is also the co-writer of Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity, and A Shine of Rainbows, which won a Leo and received a Genie Nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. He wrote the screenplay for the feature Life Above All, Prix Fran?ois Chalais winner at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, 2011 Academy Award Shortlist for Best Foreign Language Film, and a Leo winner for Best Screenplay. His novel Skud (Groundwood Books, 2003) received a BC Book Prize, and his sci-fi/fantasy trilogy, The Longlight Legacy, has been published in five languages.