John Herbert

John Herbert was the pen name of John Herbert Brundage (13 October 1926 – 22 June 2001), a Canadian playwright, drag queen, and theatre director best known for his 1967 play Fortune and Men's Eyes. Background Herbert was born in Toronto on October 13, 1926. After completing high school, he worked in the advertising department of Eaton's and began competing in drag pageants. In the 1940s, Herbert was the victim of an attempted robbery while he was dressed as a woman. His assailants falsely claimed that Herbert had solicited them for sex, and Herbert was accused and convicted of indecency under Canada's same-sex sexual activity law, which was not repealed until 1969. After being convicted, Herbert served time in a youth reformatory in Guelph, Ontario. Herbert later served another sentence for indecency at reformatory in Mimico. Later, Herbert travelled across North America doing odd jobs to support himself before returning to Toronto in 1955. He studied at the National Ballet School of Canada and at Dora Mavor Moore's New Play Society. Herbert co-founded the Garret Theatre with his sister Nana Brundage in 1960. Herbert wrote Fortune and Men's Eyes in 1964 based on his time behind bars. He included the character of Queenie as an authorial self-insertion. The play was first staged as a Stratford Festival workshop directed by Bruno Gerussi, in 1965, but Herbert was unable to find a theatre company willing to mount a full production in Canada. It ultimately premiered as an off-Broadway play in New York City, produced by David Rothenberg and Mitchell Nestor, on February 14, 1967 at the Broadway Actor's Playhouse. Because of his past conviction, Herbert faced difficulties entering the United States to attend productions of his work.