Dan Needles (playwright)
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moved [[Dan Needles]] to [[Dan Needles (playwright)]]
'''Dan Needles''' is best known as the playwright behind the popular [[Wingfield Series]] which has played across [[Canada]] for many years. It was performed at the [[Stratford Festival of Canada]] and was aired, in part, on the [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]].
Needles' childhood was divided between [[Toronto]] and his family's farm at [[Rosemont, Ontario|Rosemont]], [[Ontario]]. While working as editor for a local newspaper in [[Shelburne, Ontario|Shelburne]], he created the character of Walt Wingfield, a retired stockbroker turned farmer who told about his adventures on the farm in weekly letters to the editor. In 1985, Needles and his brother Reed gathered these articles to write the play, ''Letter From Wingfield Farm'', which was first performed by Reed. Several sequels followed, including ''Wingfield's Progress'' (1987), ''Wingfield's Folly'' (1990), ''Wingfield Unbound'' (1997), ''Wingfield on Ice'' (2001), and ''Wingfield's Inferno'' (2005). All these plays are performed by actor [[Rod Beattie]].
Needles currently writes columns for ''[[Country Guide Magazine]]'' and ''[[Harrowsmith (magazine)|Harrowsmith Country Life]]''. His book ''With Axe and Flask, The History of Persephone Township from Pre-Cambrian Times to the Present'' was the winner of the 2003 [[Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour]].
His most recent book is a collection of the fourth through sixth Wingfield plays entitled ''Wingfield's Hope''.
== Stephen Leacock Medal nominations and wins ==
*''Letters From Wingfield Farm'', short-listed for the 1989 [[Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour|Stephen Leacock Medal]]
*''With Axe and Flask – A History of Persephone Township from Pre-Cambrian Times to the Present'', winner of the 2003 [[Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour|Stephen Leacock Medal]]
*''Wingfield's Hope – More Letters from Wingfield Farm'', shortlisted for the 2006 [[Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour|Stephen Leacock Medal]]
== See also ==
*[http://wingfieldfarm.ca/ Walt Wingfield homepage]
*[http://www.speakers.ca/needles_dan.aspx Needles' profile]
*[http://www.mycollingwood.ca/dan_needles.asp Needles' profile at mycollingwood.ca]
*[http://www.leacock.ca Stephen Leacock Medal homepage]
[[Category:Canadian dramatists and playwrights|Needles]]
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