Eugene Benson

Born in Northern Ireland, Benson obtained a bachelor's degree from the National University of Ireland, a master's degree from the University of Western Ontario and his PhD from the University of Toronto.[1]

Benson is the librettist of five operatic works: Heloise and Abelard (performed by the Canadian Opera Company); Everyman (performed by the Stratford Festival); Psycho Red (presented by The Guelph Spring Festival), music by Charles Wilson. The latter two operas were broadcast by the CBC. His operetta Earnest, the Importance of Being, with music by Victor Davies, was premiered in 2008 by Toronto Operetta Theatre. The Auction: A Folk Opera, with music by John Burge, was premiered by Westben Arts Festival Theatre in 2012.[1]

Benson's scholarly publications include J.M. Synge (1982), English-Canadian Theatre (1987), The Oxford Companion to Canadian Theatre (1987), The Routledge Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English (1994, 2nd ed. 2005) — the last three co-edited with L.W. Conolly — and The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature (1997, second edition, with William Toye). He edited the anthology Encounter: Canadian Drama in Four Media (1973) and the scholarly journal Canadian Drama/L’Art dramatique canadien (1980–90).[2]

Benson was Administrative Director and Budget Officer of the Guelph Spring Festival for many years, and is a former Chair of the Writers' Union of Canada (1983–84). He was Founding co-President, with Margaret Atwood, of the Canadian Centre of International PEN (1984–85), and served as its Vice-President (1985–90).[3] He was President of PEN Canada in 1984.[3]

He has written four plays broadcast on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and, with his wife, Renate Benson, has translated plays from Quebec French. He edited the periodical Canadian Drama. In 2003 he and Bill Fraser adapted his political satire Powergame (1980) into the TV movie North of America.

He married Renate Niklaus, a retired languages and literature professor at University of Guelph, in 1968. Together they have two sons: Ormonde, a lawyer, and Shaun, an actor.[1] Renate Benson is the author of German Expressionist Drama (1984) and has twice served as President of the Guelph Spring Festival, an annual musical event.

• Encounter: Canadian Drama in Four Media (1973)
• Bulls of Ronda, a novel (1976)
• J.M. Synge, a biography (1980)
• Power Game: The Making of a Prime Minister, a novel (1980)
• English Canadian Theatre , co-written with L.W. Connolly (1987)