The Real Place

Puccini's famous aria from the opera Tosca, Vissi d'arte, vissi d'amore ("I lived for art, I lived for love") provides a fitting summation of playwright John Murrell's life and work. Since the age of 13 Murrell has peopled his life with the creations of his own imaginings. "In opera and in Shakespeare, in locations that were both natural and supernatural, I have escaped the limitations of my own mind," he says. Born in Lubbock, Texas, John Murrell became a playwright in, of all places, an Alberta high school.