Michael Riordon (1944- ) is an author, playwright, and oral historian whose work has appeared in "Toronto Life," "The New Internationalist," and the "Globe and Mail." His books include "Out Our Way" (1996) "Eating Fire" (2001), and "An Unauthorized Biography of the World: Oral History on the Front Lines" (2004). His play, "A Jungle Out There," is included in "New Canadian Drama," Volume 5, "Political Drama" (1991 Borealis).

New Canadian Drama - Volume 5, Political Drama, edited by Alan Filewod. "The plays in this anthology represent some of the main formal and thematic tendencies of political theatre in English-speaking Canada in the 1980s." Taken together, the plays in this anthology express the contemporary dialectic of political and popular theatre. Two them, Arthur Milner´s Learning to Live with Personal Growth and Michael Riordan´s A Jungle Out There, follow in the tradition of socially aware political dramaturgy developed by the Great Canadian Theatre Company, an Ottawa theatre that has from its inception in the mid-1970s successfully combined the exigencies of surviving as a professional company with a committed left-wing political mandate. "In Learning to Live with Personal Growth ... biting analysis of the disintegration of moral values in avowedly socially committed yuppies, Milner shows that satire and cool minimalism can be appropriate ideological tools." Michael Riordon´s A Jungle Out There" ... is a catalogue of topical issues that objectifies the author´s struggle to clear his way through a jungle of issues: post-AIDS gay affirmation; women´s emancipation; American colonization of Canada; Nicaragua and fascism." "Straight Stitching is an excellent example of the most common model of popular theatre in Canada. The dramaturgy relies on simple narrative and realistic scenes, designed to be accessible to audiences for whom English may be a second language. The play´s success with working class audiences, and its enthusiastic reception by the professional theatre community in Toronto, suggest that Canadian theatre is finally beginning to come to terms with the rapidly changing multicultural nature of our society." Headlines Theatre´s No´ Xya´, by David Diamond, ... "rests on the premise that the white colonizer can participate in and learn from Native traditional culture. The narration in the play is supported by non-verbal action derived from traditional dance, using authentic regalia, and songs passed on from community elders."