Fast Walker. Red Crocs. The Regurgitator. These are a few of the nicknames Daniel assigns to the other meditators during a ten-day silent retreat in Montebello, Quebec. Participants are not supposed to talk to anyone, not supposed to look anyone in the eye, and not supposed to gesture or communicate in any way. Recently diagnosed with a disease deemed terminal, and faced with this unusual situation, Daniel becomes acutely aware of the need for community and human interaction. In this funny, poignant, and insightful solo play, Brooks invites us to eavesdrop on the anxieties, joys, obsessions, and fantasies that lurk in the corners of our minds, while bearing witness to our shared need to be heard and understood.

Daniel Brooks has worked as a director writer, actor, producer, and teacher. He is a mainstay of this countryâ??s theatre, working with a network of Ontario-based writers, playwrights, and directors who virtually define the current scene (Guillermo Verdecchia, Daniel MacIvor, and John Mighton among them). He has been co-director of the Augusta Company and da da kamera, and playwright-in-residence at Tarragon Theatre. He is currently Artistic Director of Necessary Angel Theatre Company.

Among his works as a writer are The Return of Pokey Jones (Poor Alex Theatre, 1985), The Noam Chomsky Lectures (with Verdecchia, Great Canadian Theatre Company, 1992), The Lorca Play (with MacIvor, Theatre Centre, 1992), Here Lies Henry (with MacIvor, Buddies in Bad Times, 1996), and Insomnia (with Verdecchia, Theatre Centre, 1997).

He has also directed several works, notably MacIvorâ??s House (1992), Mightonâ??s Possible Worlds (1998), Faust (Tarragon Theatre, 1999), Soulpepperâ??s production of Becketâ??s Endgame (1999), and Mightonâ??s Half Life.

Daniel has won several awards, including the Chalmers (for Noam Chomsky, Here Lies Henry, House), the Dora Mavor Moore Award three times for directing, the Edinburgh Fringe First Award (Here Lies Henry); and has been nominated for the Governor Generalâ??s Literary Award (Noam Chomsky). In October 2000, he won the Capital Critics Circle Award for his direction of Possible Worlds. In October 2001, he received the first Elinore and Lou Siminovitch Prize in Theatre.

Daniel has also worked in film, notably with Bruce McDonald (whose film Highway 61 was inspired by Pokey.)

His highly innovative work has travelled across Canada and around the world. He is married to Jennifer Ross. They have two daughters, and live in Toronto.

Daniel Brooks' profile page

• Winner, Siminovitch Prize

"The list of works with which Brooks has been connected reads like a guide to some of the best productions of the past twenty years." --The Walrus