Maxim Mazumdar

Background

Maxim Mazumdar was born 27 January 1952 to a dentist, Doctor Mark Mazumdar. He grew up in their family home at Charni Road, Mumbai, India.

Education

He attended Campion School in Mumbai. Mazumdar enrolled in Loyola College (now part of Concordia University) in Montreal and graduated in 1972, with a Bachelor degree in Communication Arts.

Career

He is known for his one-man show, Oscar Remembered, which tells the story of the Irish playwright Oscar Wilde as seen from the perspective of his lover and nemesis, Lord Alfred Douglas. During this time, he had roles in several school productions, including Apsalom, Ordeal by Battle, and Oliver Twist, where he played the role of Fagin. After graduating from Loyola College, Mazumdar co-founded the now-defunct, Phoenix Theatre in Montreal.

The theatre was intended for English productions.

While at Phoenix, he directed and acted in his own works, as well as works by Noël Coward. He performed his monologue across the United States and Canada, including at the Stratford Festival.

After leaving the Phoenix Theatre, he continued to write and direct his own plays, including Rimbaud and Dance for Gods. In 1979, while adjudicating at the Newfoundland and Labrador Drama Festival, Mazumdar was impressed with the quality of the local productions and decided to establish the Provincial Drama Academy in Stephenville, Newfoundland, offering theatre training to local youth.

That same year, he established the Stephenville Theatre Festival with the aim of bringing a professional theatre experience to the people in western Newfoundland.

The Stephenville Theatre Festival was the first professional theatre festival in Newfoundland and Labrador. Over the next nine years, Mazumdar served as artistic director to the festival. During this time, he led the production of several performances in collaboration with director Edmund MacLean and executive producer Cheryl Stagg.

Notable productions included Macbeth, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Manitoba Who Came To Dinner, and Cyrano de Bergerac.

Mazumdar died of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome in Halifax, Nova Scotia on 28 April 1988. Following his death, his play, Oscar Remembered, was revived at Stratford in 2000.

In Mazumdar"s honour, the Alleyway Theatre in Buffalo, New York grants the annual Maxim Mazumdar New Play Competition Award, in remembrance of his contributions to the early growth of Alleyway.

Achievements

• Mazumdar is the founder of the Phoenix Theatre in Montreal, Quebec, as well as the Provincial Drama Academy and the Stephenville Theatre Festival in Stephenville, Newfoundland.

Connections

friendship:

Oscar Remembered