Layne Coleman

rdf:langString Layne Coleman

rdf:langString Layne Coleman is a Canadian actor, playwright and theatre director, most noted as a former artistic director of Theatre Passe Muraille. Originally from North Battleford, Saskatchewan, he first became prominent as a cofounder and artistic director of the 25th Street Theatre in Saskatoon in the 1980s. He briefly stepped in as interim artistic director of Theatre Passe Muraille in 1991 following the departure of Brian Richmond, holding the role for about a year before he was succeeded by Susan Serran in early 1992; he stepped in again as interim artistic director in 1997 after Serran left, and was named the permanent artistic director the following year. Coleman established an early success when Michael Healey's The Drawer Boy, the first play he booked for the theatre, went on to become one of the most critically and commercially popular Canadian plays of the decade. Coleman held the role with Theatre Passe Muraille until 2007. In addition to 25th Street Theatre and Theatre Passe Muraille, he has also directed plays for Factory Theatre, Canadian Stage and the National Arts Centre.