An Open-Ended Run: A Memoir

by Layne Coleman

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-Canadian 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.

232 pages, Paperback

Published October 29, 2024

Reviews

[PAUL]

I don't feel I can fairly review this book because I know a number of people who were close to Layne Coleman's wife and his wider circle of friends.

[Mike Good]

Read my full review at Foreword Reviews:

https://www.forewordreviews.com/revie...

[Tanner Waldo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read work by Layne Coleman in a 2007 issue of The Walrus. “Oasis of Hope” was a story about his experience caring for his wife through failing health, but also about memory and longing carried from earlier in his life. That story made a deep impression on me in my early twenties and has stuck with me through the years.

Nearly twenty years later, I searched his name on a whim and was pleasantly surprised to find this book. “An Open-Ended Run” is a collection of personal essays in which the author takes us on a brief tour through the timeline of his life, pausing at key moments along the way. Through the pages emerges the image of a man who has a deep love for his wife and daughter, shows earned insight into his past, and offers hope for the future.

Now in my forties, I recognize more of what he writes about: the weight of time, and the joy that still cuts through it. Reading this book felt like coming full circle, and I’m sure these stories will stay with me for as long as “Oasis of Hope” has.

[Lynnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a deceptively raw and funny memoir from one of our great Canadian actor/directors. Go backstage and behind the scenes to experience Layne's impressive life in the theatre and some of his more intimate moments of his long lived career and family life making art and spreading joy.

[Saad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully lyrical and evocative writing.