Berni Stapleton

Berni Stapleton is a playwright author skitartist and actor She was born in North West River Labrador and grew up on the south coast of Newfoundland She has spent her career making beautiful theatre in unexpected places She was a Siminovitch Playwright Prize finalist in 2023 She is the recipient of the prestigious Rhonda Payne Award for Theatre She is the founder and Artistic Director of Girl Power Inc an indie feminist theatre company devoted to the queerhands and creators of the outer reaches She has had almost forty plays professionally produced Her plays include Offensive to Some first developed as part of the NACs English Theatre Program the Playwrights Circle in 1996 It is produced regularly to this day The Antidote for Life Memory Madness and Beagles is an autobiographical exploration of madness in the arts New works in progress include the feminist queer imagining Ophelia Swims and the upcoming podcast The Haunted Doorbell Berni was writerinresidence at Memorial University in 2019 and has taught an Introduction to Playwrighting course there Her books include Love Life with Breakwater Books the newest yet unpublished Brazil Square about the once iconic boarding house district of St Johns and the writing guide How to Write a Play and Have Fun Without Hardly Even Trying or How to Finish Your Best Worst First Draft or Prepare to Throw the Pasta She lives in St Johns with rescue beagles Georgie Girl and Tiggy Duff