A University of Guelph creative writing and theatre professor wrote this year’s Canadian contribution to World Theatre Day.

Sky Gilbert was commissioned to create Canada’s World Theatre Day message.

Created in 1961 by UNESCO, World Theatre Day, which was March 27, is intended to celebrate theatre as a bridge-builder for understanding and for promoting cultural diversity and identity around the globe.

Gilbert’s message is meant to promote and celebrate theatre from a Canadian perspective. It was commissioned by the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres with l’Association des théâtres francophones du Canada and the Playwrights Guild of Canada.

Gilbert, who holds a University Research Chair in creative writing, is an award-winning playwright, filmmaker, poet, author and director. He has written poetry collections, novels and a theatre memoir, and his plays have been produced around the world.

He won the Silver Ticket Award from the Toronto Theatre Alliance for his career accomplishments and for nurturing Canadian theatre. He has received four Dora Mavor Moore Awards and the Pauline McGibbon Award for theatre directing.

Gilbert was the co-founder and artistic director of Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in Toronto for 18 years.