Written by Daniel MacIvor

Directed by Brian Norris

Featuring: Mike Magrath, Erica Rood, and Matthew Schueller.

ABOUT NEVER SWIM ALONE

NEVER SWIM ALONE won the award for overall excellence at the New York Fringe in 1998 and in 2002. Never Swim Alone is a swift, funny satire about two Alpha-males and their ruthless competition for the title of Top Dog. The play is structured as a surreal egotistic boxing match: Frank and Bill, two guys in dark suits and bad ties, square off in a 13 round Battle Royale of vicious undermining and one-upmanship.

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM

Daniel MacIvor was born in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia in 1962. He is a stalwart of the Canadian theatre scene, having written and directed numerous award-winning productions including See Bob Run, Wild Abandon, 2-2-Tango, This Is A Play, The Soldier Dreams, You Are Here, How It Works and A Beautiful View. With long time collaborator Daniel Brooks, he created the solo performances House, Here Lies Henry, Monster and Cul-de-sac. Daniel’s won a GLAAD Award and a Village Voice Obie Award for his play In On It, which was presented at PS 122. His play Marion Bridge received its off-Broadway premiere in New York in October of 2005. From 1987-2007, he was Artistic Director of da da kamera, a respected international theatre touring company that has brought his work to Australia, Israel, Europe, the UK, and extensively throughout Canada and the US.

As a filmmaker, Daniel’s work includes the festival favorite shorts: Wake Up Jerk Off, Margaret Atwood and the Problem With Canada, Permission and Until I Hear From You, all of which he wrote and directed. He wrote and starred in the Genie award-winning short film The Fairy Who Didn’t Want to be a Fairy Anymore, co-wrote and starred in House (based on his own play and directed by Laurie Lynd) and co-wrote and co-directed Parade (with Brad Fraser). Daniel’s first feature film, Past Perfect, premiered at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival, along with his screenplay adaptation of his play Marion Bridge (directed by Wiebke von Carolsfeld) which won the CITY TV Best First Feature Award. His second feature film, Wilby Wonderful premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2004 and went on to screen at festivals around the world, including the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain where it was in competition. Daniel co-wrote and starred in Amnon Buchbinder’s Whole New Thing for which Daniel won Best Screenplay and Best Performance by an Actor at the Atlantic Film Festival.

Brian Norris is a founding member and Artistic Associate of the Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble. He originated the role of Bill in the Ensemble’s first run of Wounded at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and was seen most recently playing the role of Wynne Ledbetter in the West Coast Premiere of Adam Rapp’s Stone Cold Dead Serious. Brian is a graduate of UCLA’s school of Theater, Film, and Television. He has appeared on the television show Nash Bridges and in many theatrical shows over the years, including lead roles in This is Our Youth, Bash, and Macbeth.