{{Short description|Canadian actor and playwright}} {{Infobox writer | name = Peter Cureton | birth_name = | birth_date = November 1, 1965 | birth_place = Ottawa, Ontario | death_date = {{death date and given age|1994|3|2|28}} | death_place = Ottawa | occupation = Actor, playwright | nationality = Canadian | notableworks = ''Passages'' | website = }} '''Peter Cureton''' (November 1, 1965 – March 2, 1994) was a Canadian actor and playwright.<ref name=gazetteobit>"Actor-playwright Peter Cureton, 28". ''Montreal Gazette'', March 8, 1994.</ref> He was best known for his 1993 play ''Passages'', an autobiographical show about living with HIV/AIDS.<ref name=passages>"Passages is eloquent adieu by writer with AIDS". ''Montreal Gazette'', October 22, 1993.</ref>
Born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario, Cureton was a cousin of actor R. H. Thomson.<ref name=gazetteobit/> He attended high school at Lisgar Collegiate Institute, and later studied drama at Concordia University.<ref name=citizen>"Actor, AIDS educator Peter Cureton dead at 28". ''Ottawa Citizen'', March 7, 1994.</ref> He acted in theatre roles in both Ottawa and Montreal, including productions of Agatha Christie's ''The Mousetrap'',<ref name=citizen/> Jack Todd's ''The Day Luzinski Stole Home''<ref>"Stage struck; But new bard cautious so he'll keep his day job". ''Montreal Gazette'', May 14, 1992.</ref> and William Mastrosimone's ''Shivaree'',<ref>"Foolhouse Theatre troope shines in Shivaree". ''Montreal Gazette'', February 13, 1991.</ref> participated in Montreal's first bilingual theatresports competition,<ref>"Anglophones face off against French in Quebec improvisational theatre". ''Ottawa Citizen'', March 16, 1991.</ref> and appeared in the television film ''The Boys of St. Vincent'' as Brother Peter.<ref name=citizen/>
Diagnosed HIV-positive in 1988 while acting in ''The Mousetrap'',<ref name=citizen/> he also worked as an HIV educator.<ref name=citizen/>
''Passages'' premiered in Montreal in 1993, with Cureton as the director of the inaugural production.<ref name=passages /> The cast included Joe de Paul, Susan Glover, Lisa Bronwyn Moore, Patrick Brosseau and Pauline Little.<ref name=passages /> The play was favourably reviewed, with ''Montreal Gazette'' theatre critic Pat Donnelly writing that "it should be a kickoff, not a swan song".<ref name=passages />
Cureton died on March 2, 1994, aged 28, at his family's home in Ottawa,<ref name=passages /> while working on a planned production of ''Passages'' in Toronto.<ref name=citizen />
==References== {{reflist|2}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cureton, Peter}} Category:1965 births Category:1994 deaths Category:20th-century Canadian male actors Category:20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Category:Canadian male stage actors Category:Canadian male television actors Category:Canadian male dramatists and playwrights Category:Canadian gay actors Category:Canadian gay writers Category:Canadian LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights Category:Male actors from Ottawa Category:Male actors from Montreal Category:Writers from Ottawa Category:Writers from Montreal Category:Concordia University alumni Category:AIDS-related deaths in Canada Category:Canadian theatre directors Category:20th-century Canadian male writers Category:Lisgar Collegiate Institute alumni Category:20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people Category:Gay dramatists and playwrights