A collection of memories chronicling love, grief, and a life lived on and off stage

Raised on a farm and educated in a prairie Bible school, Layne Coleman escapes the confines of his stiflingly religious upbringing at an early age to pursue a life in theatre. He migrates to Saskatoon and later Toronto where he immerses himself in the Bohemian lifestyle of the 1980s theatre scene, carving out a career as a successful actor, playwright, and eventual Artistic Director of the Theatre Passe Muraille. While there, his path intersects with that of his future wife, a captivating and glamorous French journalist. Their transformative relationship is ultimately cut short when she tragically loses her life at 48, following a painful battle with cancer.

What follows is a raw and bruised account of Coleman’s struggle to make sense of his new identity as a widower and single father. Unfolding through a series of vignettes, Coleman’s memoir takes us into the heart of loss as he wrestles with mental health and addiction while confronting his own mortality and moral compass.

Shattering yet hopeful, An Open-Ended Run is an exploration of a life spent in the arts and a man’s search for meaning in the face of grief.

Layne Coleman is an actor, director, and playwright. He was a co-founder of the 25th Street Theatre in Saskatoon and was its Artistic Director from 1980 to 1983. He was Interim Artistic Director of Theatre Passe Muraille from 1991 to 1992 and Artistic Director from 1997 to 2007. He has written several plays, acted in both television and film, and taught acting at the University of Saskatchewan. In 2007, he was awarded a Silver Ticket Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Development of Canadian Theatre. In 2022, he won a Dora Mavor Moore Award for the Best Performance in a Lead Role. Born and raised in Saskatchewan, he now lives in Toronto.

Layne Coleman's profile page