Marie Beath Badian is an award-winning Filipino-Canadian playwright and writer based in Toronto, Ontario. Her plays include The Waltz, Prairie Nurse, The Making of St. Jerome, Mind Over Matter, The Best Friend Blanket Fort Show and Novena.
Prairie Nurse and The Waltz form the first two parts of a multi-generational trilogy spanning fifty years and set in rural Saskatchewan; the third play, The Cottage Guest, is currently in development.
Her work has been recognized across Canada and internationally. The Waltz was named The Globe and Mail's Critic's Pick and included in its Top Ten Toronto Productions of 2022. Common: Parts I and II was long-listed for the UK's Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, and Common received the Playwright Guild of Canada's Tom Hendry Award for New Drama in 2022 as well as an Honorable Mention in the 2023 Voaden Prize for Playwriting Competition at Queen's University. Marie Beath was a finalist for the 2024 Gina Wilkinson Prize. As a staff writer on the CBC Gem Series Topline, she co-wrote an episode with creator Romeo Candido, earning a co-nomination for the 2022 Canadian Screen Award for Best Writing/Web-series.
Marie Beath served as the 2024 Playwright in Residence at the Banff Playwrights Lab and is a two-time alumna of the program. She has developed work through the playwright units of Cahoots Theatre Company, Tarragon Theatre, Soulpepper Playwrights Circle, The Factory Theatre, The Stratford Foerster Berstein New Play Development Retreat, and the Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre Retreat. She was Playwright-in-Residence at fu-GEN Asian-Canadian Theatre Company, Project:Humanity, The Blyth Festival, and The Capitol Theatre.
She is the founder of BUILD, a suite of five playwright-crafted programs designed for artists, learners, and institutions across North America. Her plays are also published by Scirocco Drama and Playwrights Canada Press. She has taught at Humber College, Randolph College for the Performing Arts, and The National Theatre of Canada.
