Berni Stapleton
Biography
Berni Stapleton is a playwright, author, skit-artist, and actor. She was born in North West River, Labrador and grew up on the south coast of Newfoundland. She has spent her career making beautiful theatre in unexpected places. She was a Siminovitch Playwright Prize finalist in 2023. She is the recipient of the prestigious Rhonda Payne Award for Theatre. She is the founder and Artistic Director of Girl Power Inc. an indie feminist theatre company devoted to the queer-hands and creators of the outer reaches. She has had almost forty plays professionally produced. Her plays include Offensive to Some, first developed as part of the NAC’s English Theatre Program the Playwright’s Circle in 1996. It is produced regularly to this day. The Antidote for Life: Memory, Madness and Beagles, is an autobiographical exploration of madness in the arts. New works in progress include the feminist queer imagining Ophelia Swims and the upcoming podcast The Haunted Doorbell. Berni was writer-in-residence at Memorial University in 2019 and has taught an Introduction to Playwrighting course there. Her books include Love, Life, with Breakwater Books, the newest yet unpublished Brazil Square about the once iconic boarding house district of St. John’s, and the writing guide How to Write a Play and Have Fun Without Hardly Even Trying or How to Finish Your Best Worst First Draft or Prepare to Throw the Pasta. She lives in St. John’s with rescue beagles Georgie Girl and Tiggy Duff.
Known For & Full Filmography7 Titles
Drama Series - 2022, 16 episodes • as Bethy
A coming-of-age story set in St. John’s, Newfoundland of 11 year-old Mark, much older on the inside than his 11 years, who uses comedy to win friends and connect with people in his limited world.
Movie - 1992, 2h 15m • as Donna
Fifteen years after the events of The Boys of St. Vincent took place, the various boys involved are brought in to testify against the brothers, now finally standing trial, who assaulted them when they were children.
Movie - 2003, 2h 15m • as Mother
Natalie, a gifted New York photographer, has a troubled past reflected in her art. When she struggles to make ends meet in the city, her agent, arranges an assignment in Boston for a considerable sum of money. Unable to turn it down in her dire straits, Natalie takes the job -- only to find that her estranged gay brother, Roy, is the employer. Roy wants to mend their broken past, but must convince her to stay long enough to do so.
Movie - 2017, 2h 15m • as Dr. Brandeau
Caitlyn's therapist convinces her to try a new form of hypnosis that allows her to communicate with her anxiety.
Movie - 2000, 2h 15m • as Clair
Clothesline Patch is the story of a young girl trying to keep a secret in a small Newfoundland outport (c. 1966), an unlikely setting for keeping secrets. The central focus is the clothesline patch, the communal clearing where washing is set out to dry. It is also the place where gossip is shared. Hannah is determined that her secret of becoming a woman must never reach the clothesline patch. To ensure this, she goes to extraordinary lengths to hide the fact that she has entered puberty, sometimes with amusing results.
Movie - 2000, 2h 15m • as Lynda
It seems like everyone in Violet’s family dies at age 55. Her mother did, her father did, and as this movie opens Violet, played by Mary Walsh, learns that her brother, Leonard has also died. He too was 55, an age she is now fast approaching herself. His death causes Violet to begin an existential tailspin as her family gathers round. They are Andrew Younghusband who plays her son Carlos, a gay professor of languages who has returned from Montreal. Actor and director Barry Newhook plays Rex who is a musician and daughter Ramona is played by Susan Kent. As the movie unfolds it turns out that Violet has a lot to live for, including a romance with farm manager Rusty played by Peter MacNeill.
Movie - 2001, 2h 15m • as Michelle
A woman (Lois Brown) who thinks money will solve her problems enlists the help of a homeless friend (Barry Newhook) to rob a bingo hall.