Sean Harris Oliver

Sean Harris Oliver is a Canadian actor and playwright. He is most noted for his play The Fighting Season, which was shortlisted for the Governor General's Award for English-language drama at the 2019 Governor General's Awards.[1]

The Fighting Season is a war drama which was based in part on Oliver's father, an orthopedic surgeon who served as an army doctor during the War in Afghanistan.[2] Following a run at the 2015 Vancouver Fringe Festival,[3] the play had its commercial premiere in Vancouver in January 2017,[2] and was published in book form by Scirocco Drama in 2019.

Oliver's other plays have included Bright Blue Future[4] and Redpatch, a collaboration with Raes Calvert.[5]


Controversy

On June 20th, 2020, during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, Oliver shared the video Jordan Peterson Debunks White Privilege which sparked an immediate storm of comments from members of the Vancouver Theatre Community, calling out Oliver's white privilege. The original post was shared by Gregory Radzimowski, and despite over 30 comments attempting to educate Radzimowski, Oliver commented thanking him for the post, and shared it himself. After over 70 comments, Oliver deleted the post and issued a public apology on Facebook saying "I would like you to know that it was not my intention to act so callously and thoughtlessly." Furthermore, he stated he "did not realize or understand how this video supported white supremacist ideals" despite the several articles posted on the original post. He also asked that his community show him compassion and help educate him, which was met with further backlash. Questions are now being asked about the true intentions and motives behind his play Redpatch, which follows a Indigenous soldier fighting for Canada on the Western Front of Europe during World War I. One comment suggested he "take every penny you’ve made off of Redpatch and donate it to the Unist’ot’en camp fund."

References
  1. "Michael Crummey among fiction finalists for Governor General's Literary Awards". CTV News, October 2, 2019.
  2. Laura Lynch and Glen Kugelstadt, "Chaos, horror, trauma: B.C. playwright's war drama inspired by father's work in Kandahar hospital". CBC News British Columbia, January 28, 2017.
  3. Colin Thomas, "Fringe Fest 2015: The Fighting Season is cause for celebration". The Georgia Straight, September 14, 2015.
  4. Colin Thomas, "Gen Y actors give Bright Blue Future some clarity despite a foggy script". The Georgia Straight, February 22, 2016.
  5. Janet Smith, "Redpatch brings together artistic and personal journey". The Georgia Straight, April 11, 2017.


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