Email:
c/o Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia

www.markfinnon.com

← Return to Writers' Directory

Mark Finnan

Mark Finnan is an author, playwright and scriptwriter. He is also a working actor and producer. His latest book, The View Beyond, is a compilation with over twenty other researchers, historians and authors of the life of the renowned Elizabethan Sir Francis Bacon; his involvement with Masonic and Rosicrucian thought and activity, his possible connection with the authorship of the Shakespeare plays, his influence on early political, scientific and religious developments in North America and his relevance for our time. The Sinclair Saga explores the mystery surrounding the alleged voyage to Nova Scotia, Canada of Prince Henry Sinclair in 1398, the Sinclair family’s association with the Knights Templar and the legend of the Holy Grail, as well as the esoteric nature of Rosslyn Chapel. Oak Island Secrets, apart from providing a detailed account of the history of the long and on-going search for a mysterious treasure on Oak Island, makes the case that a secretive society of the sixteenth or seventeenth century, possibly Freemasonry, was involved in depositing something of great value on the island. He is also the author of The First Nova Scotian, which chronicles the life and times of Sir William Alexander, the Scottish born poet, playwright and contemporary of Shakespeare. It was Alexander, a member of the court of King James I, who gave Nova Scotia its name, flag and its first English settlement. The book also documents the earlier arrival of Samuel Champlain and the initial French settlement at Port Royal.

Mark Finnan’s first play, a political satire entitled Once Upon Eternity, was produced as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival. His folk play The Blind Shantyman is an adaptation of Nova Scotia writer Thomas Raddall’s short Story, Blind McNair. He has written a humorous and informative theatre piece entitled The Corktown Man, which describes the lives of some Irish settlers in Ontario in the mid to late eighteen hundreds. Centered around a love story, it contains a lively selection of traditional Irish and Canadian songs and tunes. His theatrical presentation The Ballad of D’Arcy McGee chronicles the remarkable life and accomplishments of Canada’s ‘visionary’ Father of Confederation from his birth in Ireland in April 1825, his involvement with the Young Ireland movement, his work on behalf of Irish immigrants to New York and other east coast cities, his life as a pioneering Canadian politician, to his assassination in Ottawa in April 1868.

He has also written a series of one-man sacred dramas. The Innkeeper’s Story...the Messiah mystery is an unusual and revealing account of the first Christmas as told by Apsafar the Bethlehem innkeeper. A Christmas story for adults. The Master and the Essenes is based on information in the Dead Sea Scrolls and other documents about the Essenes and the belief that the man Jesus of Nazareth was raised and educated in the mystical tradition of this reclusive Jewish religious sect, the Essenes. An inspiring, moving and dramatically told story of the Christ, as never heard before. A New Heaven and a New Earth has the aged Apostle John back in Patmos following his release from exile on the island of Patmos and describing to others his extraordinary vision and its meaning. Finnan has also adapted Kahlil Gibran’s poetic masterpiece The Prophet for the stage and has written a dramatic multi-character narrative for J.S. Bach’s St Matthew Passion to be performed with orchestra and chorus.

Documentary film script credits are The Curse of Oak island (A&E) and The Prince and the Grail (Vision TV).

For a comprehensive list of publications, please contact Mark at mfinnan@bell.net.