My Own Private Oshawa is a theatrical play written and performed by Jonathan Wilson, which premiered in 1996.[1] A one-man show taking place aboard a GO Train in which Wilson is travelling home from Toronto to Oshawa for a visit, the show is performed as a monologue about his childhood experiences as a repressed and closeted gay kid, and the impact of his more flamboyantly gay friend Gordon on his sense of self.[2] The ultimate purpose of the trip, to attend Gordon's funeral following his death of AIDS, is revealed only at the end of the play.[3]
The play was staged for the first time in July 1996 at the Toronto Fringe Festival, where it was one of the major hits of the festival;[1] due to its popularity, it was later remounted by Tarragon Theatre in the fall.[4] The Tarragon production received two Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations (Small Theatre division) in 1997, for Outstanding New Play or Musical and Outstanding Performance by a Male (Wilson).[5]