Richard Greenblatt is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 playwright

Playwright

A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

 who currently lives in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

. He is best known for 2 Pianos, 4 Hands

2 Pianos, 4 Hands

2 Pianos, 4 Hands is a Canadian musical comedy play, written and originally performed by Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt.The two-actor play's central characters are Ted and Richard, two boys who each dream of becoming a famous classical pianist. In the early scenes, each boy learns piano as a...

, which he wrote and performed with Ted Dykstra.

Greenblatt was born in Montreal in 1953 to a secular Jewish family. His parents were active Communists until 1956, when they left the party after Khrushchev

Nikita Khrushchev

Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...

's Secret Speech

On the Personality Cult and its Consequences

On the Personality Cult and its Consequences was a report, critical of Joseph Stalin, made to the Twentieth Party Congress on February 25, 1956 by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. It is more commonly known as the Secret Speech or the Khrushchev Report...

.

Greenblatt attended Dawson College

Dawson College

Dawson College was the first English CEGEP and is located in Westmount, just west of downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Dawson College is located near the heart of downtown Montreal in a former nunnery on 4.85 hectares of green space...

. He later trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. In 1975 he returned to Canada and began his theatrical career.

Works

• Soft Pedalling (1981)
• 2 Pianos, 4 Hands
  2 Pianos, 4 Hands
  2 Pianos, 4 Hands is a Canadian musical comedy play, written and originally performed by Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt.The two-actor play's central characters are Ted and Richard, two boys who each dream of becoming a famous classical pianist. In the early scenes, each boy learns piano as a...
  
  (1994)
• Sibs (2000)
• Letters From Lehrer
  Letters From Lehrer
  Letters From Lehrer is a play written by Canadian Richard Greenblatt, and performed by him at CanStage, from 16 January to 25 February 2006. It follows Tom Lehrer's musical career, the meaning of several of his songs, the politics of the time when he wrote the songs, and Greenblatt's own...
  
  (2006)

External links

• Profile from Canadian Theatre Encyclopaedia