PLAYWRIGHT Norm Foster and fellow actor Brenda Bazinet star in Foster's romantic comedy 'Old Love' playing at Theatre Orangeville between October 15th and November 1st. Contributed Photo It all began, in 1981, with an audition for an amateur theatre's rendition of "Harvey" in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Norm Foster went with a friend of his to audition for a part in the play, which, somewhat to his surprise, he got. As he rehearsed and participated in the production, he wondered if he, too, could write a play in which others would want to act and produce.

Today, Norm Foster is one of Canada's most prolific and produced playwrights. At one point, he had no idea whether he could act or write and, as it turned out, he can do both with considerable success. Just imagine.

Staying close to home, Mr. Foster offered his first work to Theatre New Brunswick, where Artistic Director Malcolm Black produced the play, giving the budding playwright his initial boost.

Says Mr. Foster of Malcolm Black: "I owe him a lot."

In fact, while Mr. Foster grew up in Toronto and has lived in Ancaster for some years, he is fond of Fredericton and making plans to return there. "I feel more at home in New Brunswick,."

The play that really launched Mr. Foster's career was The Melville Boys. "That took off for me," he commented.

Known for their humour and the truth in the dialogue, Mr. Foster's plays are well loved by both actors and audiences near and far.

"The main concern is to stay fresh," Mr. Foster said in a telephone interview. "I always want the next one to be better than the last. I'm more confident now."

Like many writers, he likes a deadline: "it turns on the juice - you can't procrastinate."

With all those plays available for performing, Mr. Foster reckons he is always flattered when anyone wants to produce one of his plays. Certainly, they appeal to a wide spectrum of theatre groups and audiences. From community theatres in small towns across Canada to large professional theatres around the world, a Norm Foster play is usually on a stage somewhere. For him, it is even more exciting when a play is produced where he is not known.

His plays have been on stages in San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Australia. One of them - Drinking Alone - is running at the moment in Moscow, in Russian.

The style of Mr. Foster's plays is to keep the number of characters and actors low. In this way, he can develop each character more thoroughly. He also likes the technique of giving more than one character to each actor.

"It's more interesting," he opined. "And it's interesting for the actors to do more than one role within a play."

Asked about his ambitions, he answered somewhat humorously, but I suspect with more than an element of truth, "to wind up in the Caribbean sitting in a bar." Otherwise: "I'd like to try my hand at a screen play to do something new." And, "I like what I'm doing and I just want to keep earning my living at it."

Reflectively, he noted: "I've been pretty lucky."

Although Mr. Foster has been writing steadily since his first success, he has taken this year off to act and to work on photography, which is another interest of his. Not surprisingly, new plots are occurring to him. He remarked, "I have a couple [of new stories] in mind."

Mr. Foster is currently a finalist for the Premier's Award for Excellence in the Arts.

The Norm Foster play coming to Theatre Orangeville next week, Old Love, is one he wrote two years ago. He told me it has been produced several times. Currently running at the Thousand Islands Theatre in Gananoque, from which it is coming directly here, Norm Foster is starring in it with Brenda Bazinet.

Brenda Bazinet is a Gemini Award winner for her performance in A Grief Shared which she did for TVO. She has performed in more than 80 productions for theatre and television. Next year, she is looking forward to directing two plays at the Fanshaw College in London, Ont. She is also an acting coach and instructor.

Directing his remarks to the Orangeville audiences coming to see Old Love, Mr. Foster said, " I really think they'll enjoy this play. Brenda is one of the best actresses I've ever worked with. And the set designed by Steve Lucas is magnificent!"

For sure, there will be lots of laughs and lots to think about.

Old Love will run from October 15 to November 1.

Tickets are for sale at the Theatre Orangeville Box Office and on the website, www.theatreorangeville.ca.