Writing
Writing
Kirk writes for TV and the theatre (both youth and adult).
For script and score inquiries, please contact us.
2024 Playwrights Guild of Canada Conference
Spycraft, written by Kirk Dunn and Claire Ross Dunn
Spycraft is a two-act play supported by the Toronto Arts Council about the female operatives who spied on the Germans in WWII occupied France by knitting code into ordinary garments.
When a middle-aged Canadian woman joins the British Special Operations Executive during WWII as a spy in occupied France, her male colleague is skeptical she’ll make a difference because she’s a woman, and an ‘old’ one at that. But she defies expectations and uses her invisibility as an asset by employing a classically female craft to pass coded intelligence about the Germans to the Allies: knitting.
Spycraft at Little Lion Theatre, UK
July 5, 2022 reading of Spycraft at The Drayton Arms Theatre by Little Lion Theatre Company, London, UK
Spycraft was included in the Little Lion Theatre Company’s reading series "Stories from the Past,” an exploration into defining moments in our history, at the Drayton Arms Theatre in London UK, on July 5, 2022. Over three performances, Little Lion showcased 8 pieces of original writing from a diverse group of Canadian playwrights who were paired with a UK-based director. July 3 and July 4 featured short plays and excerpts, with a reading of the full-length ‘Spycraft’, directed by Little Lion Artistic Director Kay Brattan, closing out the event on July 5.
On November 27th and 28th, Little Lion Theatre Company held two new readings of a new draft of Spycraft for invited audiences.
Spycraft playwrights’ reading
Clockwise, from top left: Beverley Cooper, Dramaturge; Claire Ross Dunn and Kirk Dunn, writers; Ben Carlson and Deborah Hay; Diane Flacks, Consultant; Gregory Prest, actor; Gabriella Sundar Singh, actor. Jan 06, 2022.
The Knitting Pilgrim, written by Kirk Dunn and Claire Ross Dunn
Supported by the Toronto Arts Council, Kirk co-wrote and co-produced the play The Knitting Pilgrim with Claire Ross Dunn, his partner in writing (and in life, and pretty much everything). Funded by The Canada Council for the Arts, the show premiered at the Aga Khan Museum Theatre in 2019 and has performed over 50 times.
The Knitting Pilgrim is a multidisciplinary one-man show that combines personal storytelling, image projection, and three huge knitted panels that look like stained glass windows, to explore the connection amongst the Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The play recounts Kirk’s fifteen-year artistic and spiritual journey of hand-knitting the ambitious project, and looks at why people struggle to get along today, the meaning of art, the hell of grant-writing and the power of love to overcome major obstacles (and minor mishaps).
The show, along with a Q&A/meet and greet immediately following the performance, which gives audiences a chance to come up on stage, see the panels up close and meet Kirk, is available for booking, nationally and internationally. For further information about the show, please see The Knitting Pilgrim page of this website.
The Lost Land
Musical for children
Book and lyrics by Kirk Dunn; Score by Eliot Nile
The Lost Land is a fast-paced musical romp about conflict resolution that stresses the power of language over physical violence or intimidation. When one teen gang is planning to retaliate against their archrivals, they’re all suddenly transported to a funky medieval Lost Land where Deke The Dragon, an impressive rapping lizard, shows them that, to solve their problems, it’s better to rap and rhyme than to rock and rumble.
The Lost Land was Winner of StoryBook Theatre's 1992 New Play Competition. It was produced there, as well as having been mounted by The Alumnae Theatre, Magnus Theatre and Shakespeare in Action.
Casting: gender-neutral; 26 +/- actors, or 4 - 6 actors
Running time: under 1 hour
DEREK THE VIKING
Musical for children
Book and lyrics by Kirk Dunn; Score by Greg Diakun
Derek is a bully who delights in terrorizing his sister, Robbie, and their cousin, Hank. When Derek discovers that Hank is working on a project about Vikings, he is inspired to pretend he is one himself – the perfect excuse for "attacking and conquering." Frustrated, Robbie comes up with the idea of impersonating Todd, the one kid Derek fears, to put a stop to Derek’s behaviour. But when Robbie finds herself in the power position, she is just as bad to Derek as Derek was to her. The kids eventually realize that bullying breeds more bullying, and resolve to find creative solutions that work for everyone.
Derek The Viking was Winner of StoryBook Theatre's 1995 New Play Competition. It was produced there, as well as at Magnus Theatre in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Casting: 2 male actors, 1 female
Running time: under 1 hour
PETE’S FEAT
Musical for children
Book and Lyrics by Kirk Dunn
This fun, fast-paced musical for young audiences is based on Peter Pan... with a few twists. Mike and Jenny get caught in a showdown between Pete and Captain Hook – complicated by three silly pirates, a few dangerous crocodiles, and bumbling parents.
Casting: Gender-neutral; 20 +/- actors
Running time: under 1 hour
FOREST HILL CARES
A satire by David Burgess, Claire Dunn and Kirk Dunn
Based on a Collective Creation by David Burgess, Angelo Celeste, Claire Ross Dunn, Kirk Dunn, Tracey Hoyt, Sandy MacMaster, Kevin Prentice, Ken Chubb and Lloy Coutts. Ken Chubb was dramaturge. Lloy Coutts was director.
A modern adaptation of William Wycherley's biting Restoration satire The Country Wife, Forest Hill Cares satirizes the hypocrisy of public caring amongst the cosmopolitan elite. Famous researcher Frank and playboy lawyer Roger are doing billionaire Pinch a favour: he has found a young, nubile wife in rural-born Margie, and wants her to pass a medical and sign a prenup before he announces their union. In return, Frank and Roger want the Pinch Foundation to support Frank's newest venture with its upcoming fundraiser. They cook up a plan to make Roger the clinic's stricken poster boy; which gives him a devious new way to gain access to rich wives behind their husbands’ backs. Margie, eager to fit in, becomes Roger’s newest pursuit. The fundraiser is a roaring success: Despite the revelation that the whole thing is a fraud, all parties keep lips sealed for fear of looking the fool both publicly and privately. And Margie manages to come out cleanly on top, having learned the devious ways of her new circle.
Forest Hill Cares received two Toronto Arts Council grants, and was presented in staged readings at Theatre Passe Muraille, and as part of the ScriptLab series at Harbourfront.
Casting: 8 actors – 3 female, 5 male
Running Time: full-length, 2 acts