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"The Governor General’s shortlist for English drama includes a playwright whose work is well-known to Edmonton audiences: Vern Thiessen, Winnipeg-born and currently New York-based. The author of Einstein’s Gift, Shakespeare’s Will and Vimy — all of which premièred at the Citadel — is nominated for Lenin’s Embalmers, a dark comedy inspired by the real-life story of two scientists charged by Stalin with the task of preserving the corpse of the leader of the Russian Revolution.

The play premièred at Ensemble Studio Theater in New York. The Canadian première of Lenin’s Embalmers was a 2010 co-production between Winnipeg’s Jewish Theatre and the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Co. in Toronto."

Read the full story on the Edmonton Journal here.

Vern Thiessen will be a featured artist at the Mennonite/s Writing conference at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia March 29-April 1, 2011.