When a middle-aged Canadian woman who is a hidden Jew joins the British Special Operations Executive during WWII as a spy in occupied France, her male colleague is sceptical she will make a difference because she’s a woman – and an ‘old’ one at that. However, she defies expectations and challenges the chauvinism and Antisemitism of the times by using her invisibility as an asset and employing a classically female craft to pass coded intelligence about the Germans to the Allies: knitting.
Kirk Dunn, Playwright
Kirk is an actor, writer, and knitter.
He trained at York university’s Theatre Performance programme.
His stage credits include two tours of Billy Bishop Goes to War for Ergo Arts Theatre (a show he also did at Gypsy Theatre); Merlin and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) at Young People’s Theatre; Dads! The Musical at the Charlottetown Festival, Stirling Theatre, and Drayton Theatre; Romeo and Juliet at the Ford Centre; More Munsch at The Grand Theatre; The War Show, A Flea in Her Ear, Don’t Dress for Dinner, and The Affections of May for Drayton; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with the Toronto Consort; and Fortune and Men’s Eyes at the Tarragon. TV highlights include not being seen for 3 seasons as the lead on TVO/PBS’s Gemini award-winning The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon, during which he was ensconced in an 8-foot-tall green dragon puppet.
Kirk has been knitting since 1988 and designing since 1996. In 1998, he apprenticed at the Kaffe Fassett Studio in London, England. In 2003, Kirk was awarded a significant Ontario Arts Council Chalmers Foundation Fellowship for “Stitched Glass,” an installation of 6’ x 9’ panels hand-knit in the style of stained glass, exploring the commonalities and conflicts amongst Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Knitting the tapestries took Kirk fifteen years. His one-man show about that journey, The Knitting Pilgrim, has toured for over 50 shows and is set to tour Austria in June, 2023. Two documentaries about Kirk and his knitting have been made: the award-winning “Stitched Glass—The Documentary,” from filmmakers Ian Daffern and Omar Majeed, and “Threads of Abraham” from filmmaker Todd Whitham.
During COVID, Kirk and his wife Claire have produced a digital interview series called The Knitting Pilgrim Talks, with conversations between Kirk and guests who are artists, clergy and academics to provide background and context to The Knitting Pilgrim.
Kirk's writing for television includes multiple episodes of The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon (YTV, TVO and PBS), Ants In Your Pants, Fuzzpaws (Treehouse), and Hello Mrs. Cherrywinkle (OWL TV for PBS). Supported by the Toronto Arts Council, Kirk and his wife, Claire Ross Dunn, co-wrote The Knitting Pilgrim, a one-man theatre show about Kirk’s experience knitting “Stitched Glass.” Solo, Kirk has written three musicals for young audiences, including The Lost Land and Derek the Viking, both of which were awarded first prize in StoryBook Theatre's playwrighting competition and which have been produced across North America. Kirk and Claire recently wrote a new play, Spycraft, about the female Allied operatives in WWII who coded intelligence into their knitting to spy on the Germans. The script’s development was supported by the Toronto Arts Council.
For more info: go to www.kirkdunn.com or visit the Facebook Page, The Knitting Pilgrim.
He trained at York university’s Theatre Performance programme.
His stage credits include two tours of Billy Bishop Goes to War for Ergo Arts Theatre (a show he also did at Gypsy Theatre); Merlin and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) at Young People’s Theatre; Dads! The Musical at the Charlottetown Festival, Stirling Theatre, and Drayton Theatre; Romeo and Juliet at the Ford Centre; More Munsch at The Grand Theatre; The War Show, A Flea in Her Ear, Don’t Dress for Dinner, and The Affections of May for Drayton; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with the Toronto Consort; and Fortune and Men’s Eyes at the Tarragon. TV highlights include not being seen for 3 seasons as the lead on TVO/PBS’s Gemini award-winning The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon, during which he was ensconced in an 8-foot-tall green dragon puppet.
Kirk has been knitting since 1988 and designing since 1996. In 1998, he apprenticed at the Kaffe Fassett Studio in London, England. In 2003, Kirk was awarded a significant Ontario Arts Council Chalmers Foundation Fellowship for “Stitched Glass,” an installation of 6’ x 9’ panels hand-knit in the style of stained glass, exploring the commonalities and conflicts amongst Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Knitting the tapestries took Kirk fifteen years. His one-man show about that journey, The Knitting Pilgrim, has toured for over 50 shows and is set to tour Austria in June, 2023. Two documentaries about Kirk and his knitting have been made: the award-winning “Stitched Glass—The Documentary,” from filmmakers Ian Daffern and Omar Majeed, and “Threads of Abraham” from filmmaker Todd Whitham.
During COVID, Kirk and his wife Claire have produced a digital interview series called The Knitting Pilgrim Talks, with conversations between Kirk and guests who are artists, clergy and academics to provide background and context to The Knitting Pilgrim.
Kirk's writing for television includes multiple episodes of The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon (YTV, TVO and PBS), Ants In Your Pants, Fuzzpaws (Treehouse), and Hello Mrs. Cherrywinkle (OWL TV for PBS). Supported by the Toronto Arts Council, Kirk and his wife, Claire Ross Dunn, co-wrote The Knitting Pilgrim, a one-man theatre show about Kirk’s experience knitting “Stitched Glass.” Solo, Kirk has written three musicals for young audiences, including The Lost Land and Derek the Viking, both of which were awarded first prize in StoryBook Theatre's playwrighting competition and which have been produced across North America. Kirk and Claire recently wrote a new play, Spycraft, about the female Allied operatives in WWII who coded intelligence into their knitting to spy on the Germans. The script’s development was supported by the Toronto Arts Council.
For more info: go to www.kirkdunn.com or visit the Facebook Page, The Knitting Pilgrim.
Claire Ross Dunn, Playwright
Claire is a writer, story editor and producer.
Her first novel, At Last Count, will be released by Invisible Publishing in June, 2022.
She has written several movies: Falling For Look Lodge (Neshama, Marvista/Hallmark); the story for An Ice Wine Christmas (Cineflix/Lifetime); and Cupids on Beacon Street (Incendo/City TV). Claire story edited the award-winning features Truckstop Bloodsuckers and Picture Day.
TV credits include Supervising Producer of Make It Pop for Nickelodeon/YTV; writer/ESE on Little Mosque on the Prairie (CBC/Hulu); writer on Degrassi, The Next Generation for CTV/Teen Nick (for which Claire earned The Alliance for Children and Television Award for Excellence); head writer/producer for The Smart Woman Survival Guide (W/Cosmo TV); and writer/ESE on Wingin’ It for Family/Disney XD/BBC (earning Claire a 2014 Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Writing, Children’s/Youth). She has written or story edited on many other shows for networks such as Nickelodeon, BBC, CBC, NBC Universal Kids, PBS, Family, YTV, Youku, RAI, Gulli, and TVO.
For digital-first, Claire is Executive Producer for ZARQA, a comedy for CBC Gem created by Zarqa Nawaz, and is an Executive Producer for an interview series called The Knitting Pilgrim Talks.
Claire co-wrote the YA non-fiction The Gymnastics Book: A Young Performer’s Guide to Gymnastics, currently in its third edition with Firefly. She has also written multiple personal pieces for the Globe and Mail, and has had a commentary broadcast on CBC Radio.
Supported by the Canada Council and the Toronto Arts Council, Claire co-wrote The Knitting Pilgrim for the theatre with Kirk Dunn, which has toured for over 50 shows and is set to tour Austria in June, 2023.
Claire trained as an actor at York university’s Theatre Performance programme. She later attended the Canadian Film Centre as a Writer Resident. She lives in Toronto with her husband, Kirk Dunn. Together they have two children, Findley and Emmett.
For more info, go to www.clairerossdunn.com or visit https://www.facebook.com/ClaireRossDunnWriter.
Her first novel, At Last Count, will be released by Invisible Publishing in June, 2022.
She has written several movies: Falling For Look Lodge (Neshama, Marvista/Hallmark); the story for An Ice Wine Christmas (Cineflix/Lifetime); and Cupids on Beacon Street (Incendo/City TV). Claire story edited the award-winning features Truckstop Bloodsuckers and Picture Day.
TV credits include Supervising Producer of Make It Pop for Nickelodeon/YTV; writer/ESE on Little Mosque on the Prairie (CBC/Hulu); writer on Degrassi, The Next Generation for CTV/Teen Nick (for which Claire earned The Alliance for Children and Television Award for Excellence); head writer/producer for The Smart Woman Survival Guide (W/Cosmo TV); and writer/ESE on Wingin’ It for Family/Disney XD/BBC (earning Claire a 2014 Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Writing, Children’s/Youth). She has written or story edited on many other shows for networks such as Nickelodeon, BBC, CBC, NBC Universal Kids, PBS, Family, YTV, Youku, RAI, Gulli, and TVO.
For digital-first, Claire is Executive Producer for ZARQA, a comedy for CBC Gem created by Zarqa Nawaz, and is an Executive Producer for an interview series called The Knitting Pilgrim Talks.
Claire co-wrote the YA non-fiction The Gymnastics Book: A Young Performer’s Guide to Gymnastics, currently in its third edition with Firefly. She has also written multiple personal pieces for the Globe and Mail, and has had a commentary broadcast on CBC Radio.
Supported by the Canada Council and the Toronto Arts Council, Claire co-wrote The Knitting Pilgrim for the theatre with Kirk Dunn, which has toured for over 50 shows and is set to tour Austria in June, 2023.
Claire trained as an actor at York university’s Theatre Performance programme. She later attended the Canadian Film Centre as a Writer Resident. She lives in Toronto with her husband, Kirk Dunn. Together they have two children, Findley and Emmett.
For more info, go to www.clairerossdunn.com or visit https://www.facebook.com/ClaireRossDunnWriter.
Kay Brattan, Director
Kay is director, dramaturg, producer, and actor from Toronto, Canada.
Kay’s theatre training comes from the prestigious Theatre Performance programme at Humber College in Toronto where she studied as an actor. Kay is a graduate of East 15’s Directing Programme where she was awarded an MA with distinction in theatre directing. She has also studied with GITIS International in Moscow, Russia, in partnership with East 15 Acting School.
Directing credits include Lysistrata (how.dare.collective. Toronto Fringe 2017, Best Ensemble Nominee, My Entertainment World Awards 2017), Wake Up and Smell the Coffee (LowDown Theatre Company), The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (Alumnae Theatre Company, New Ideas Festival 2018), CARMILLA (Montreal and Toronto Fringe, 2018), Mustard (Little Lion Theatre Company, The Drayton Arms Pub Theatre, 2020), What You Will, or Twelfth Night (Little Lion Theatre Company, Tea House Theatre, 2020), Highway 1: Stories from Far and Wide (Stories From Home, Little Lion Theatre Company, Drayton Arms Theatre, 2021)and Beautiful Vida: A Staged Reading (Little Lion Theatre Company, Etcetera Theatre, 2021).
As an assistant director, she has been a part of The Things That Were There (Valerie Christiansen, Theatre Festival Pending at The Hen and Chickens Theatre, 2019), King Lear (Jeremy Mortimer, East 15 Acting School, 2019), Brazen Head (Matt Harrison, East 15 Acting School, 2019), The AB Project: The Return (David Glass, David Glass Ensemble, 2019), and as an associate director on Accidentally Muslim (AMP Productions, Edinburgh Fringe 2019). (kaybrattan.com)
Kay’s theatre training comes from the prestigious Theatre Performance programme at Humber College in Toronto where she studied as an actor. Kay is a graduate of East 15’s Directing Programme where she was awarded an MA with distinction in theatre directing. She has also studied with GITIS International in Moscow, Russia, in partnership with East 15 Acting School.
Directing credits include Lysistrata (how.dare.collective. Toronto Fringe 2017, Best Ensemble Nominee, My Entertainment World Awards 2017), Wake Up and Smell the Coffee (LowDown Theatre Company), The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (Alumnae Theatre Company, New Ideas Festival 2018), CARMILLA (Montreal and Toronto Fringe, 2018), Mustard (Little Lion Theatre Company, The Drayton Arms Pub Theatre, 2020), What You Will, or Twelfth Night (Little Lion Theatre Company, Tea House Theatre, 2020), Highway 1: Stories from Far and Wide (Stories From Home, Little Lion Theatre Company, Drayton Arms Theatre, 2021)and Beautiful Vida: A Staged Reading (Little Lion Theatre Company, Etcetera Theatre, 2021).
As an assistant director, she has been a part of The Things That Were There (Valerie Christiansen, Theatre Festival Pending at The Hen and Chickens Theatre, 2019), King Lear (Jeremy Mortimer, East 15 Acting School, 2019), Brazen Head (Matt Harrison, East 15 Acting School, 2019), The AB Project: The Return (David Glass, David Glass Ensemble, 2019), and as an associate director on Accidentally Muslim (AMP Productions, Edinburgh Fringe 2019). (kaybrattan.com)