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Canadian Plays by Playwright: B Sistahs Maxine Bailey & Sharon M. Lewis Five strong, but different women, come together for the symbolic act of making soup in this play about tradition, memories, and the hard truths of life. Co-written by two Caribbean women. F-5. 61 pp. $13.95. Sharon Bajer Molly's Veil Sharon Bajer As the first female Mayor of a major Canadian city, Charlotte Whitton took her place in history books when she rose to office as the Mayor of Ottawa in 1952. Publicly known as an extraordinarily witty and colourful character who wasn't afraid to interrogate her mostly male opponents, she shielded her private life from public view. From the time the two met at Queen's University, Charlotte Whitton and Margaret Grier's special relationship was born and chronicled over the years through letters to each other. $14.95. Bat Masterson's Last Regular Job Bill Ballantyne This compelling play depicts the lengths that an aging hero of the Old West, Bat Masterson, will go to to find worth and acceptance in turn-of-the-century Manhattan. M-4, F-1. 96 pp. $9.95. The Room with Five Walls: The Trials of Victor Hoffman Byrna Barclay This poetic drama in two acts thrusts an audience inside the disordered mind of Victor Hiffman several decades after the Peterson murders. The Room With Five Walls' strong poetic structure leads us to see what went wrong on the day of the Shell Lake massacre and shows us a bewildered, lonely, divided man. Beautifully written, Barclay has shown us a soul sitting judgement on itself. 3M, 1W, Chorus & Others. Softcover, 118 pp. $16.95. Carrying the Calf Shirley Barrie Four women of different ages and cultural backgrounds meet in a self-defense class for women. Each of the women is experiencing a form of violence in her life. After initial mistrust and misunderstandings, they help each other to move towards a spiritual as well as physical strength. F-4. 46 pp. $10.95. Dreary and Izzy Tara Beagan 1975, Lethbridge Alberta. When the Monaghan sisters lose their parents in a car accident, Deirdre remains as the sole caregiver to her older sister, Isabelle. Adopted as an infant from the neighbouring Blood Indian Reserve, Isabelle is loving, joyous, and severely affected by fetal alcohol syndrome a time before this disorder had a name. Deirdre is barely staying afloat under the strain of this reality, when hope arrived in the form of a gorgeous vacuum salesman Freddie Seven Horses. Both sisters find in Freddie a new world of unexplored emotions and ideas, where Freddie is a port in a storm. Softcover, 90 pp. $17.95. Inuk Henry Beissel Presenting the two basic dimensions of Inuit experience (the natural and the supernatural) Inuk explores, on an archetypal level, the fundamental human experience of life and death, and the need to understand and accept our place in nature in order to survive. Published here, in both English and French. For 5. (or more) actors. 116 pp. $17.95. Colours in the Storm Jim Betts Colours in the Storm is a heartfelt play with songs that tells the story of one of Canada's best loved painters, Tom Thompson. This is the story of his love of art, his passion for life, and his mysterious death. M-3, F-2. 194 pp. $19.95. In Vitro Yvan Bienvenue After killing his girlfriend and her doctor, Francois collects the foetal remains of their unborn child and holes up in a isolated cabin with a born-again Christian named Benoit. What follows are five days of hell. M-2, F-1. 71 pp. $12.95. Crime Against Humanity Genevieve Billette In an industrialist's office, over the course of two hours, a scene is played out which will detemine the fate of his company's growth. Wanting to expand his factory and maximize production -- and create 300 much-needed jobs -- the Industrialist attempts to buy his neighbour (and employee) Kalr's land. But Kalr isn't easily convinced and the ensuing negotiations turn sour, potentially destroying the Industrialist's family unit. Softcover, 60 pp. $16.95. The Elephant Song Nicholas Billon An eminent psychiatrist has vanished from his office. The last person to have seen him is Michael, a troubled patient obsessed with all things elepahants. Dr. Greenberg, the hospital director, is determind to question Michael, ignoring the head nurse's cryptic warnings. Michael speaks of elephants and opera -- with the occasional hint of murder and foul play. Fraught with mindgames and verbal tugs-of-war, The Elephant Song is a cat-and-mouse game that will keep you guessing until its haunting conclusion. M-2, F-1. Softcover, 56 pp. $16.95. The Execution Marie-Claire Blais Set in a boarding school, The Execution is the story of two schoolboys who plot the murder of one of their classmates, and go on to enact the crime. As a play, it is a study of innocence, evil, and complicity. 103 pp. $16.95. Back to top

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One Night Stand (Una Aventura) Carol Bolt Daisy picks up a charming stranger who puncuates his lies with Latin songs. The consequences are chilling in this claustrophobic thriller. M-1, F-2. 62 pp. $12.00. Written on Water Michel Marc Bouchard Torrential rains and an overflowing river have caused a mudslide in a small isolated village 'writing room' -- the room where a small group of senior citizens used to meet to record their memories. In Written on Water Bouchard has created an almost overwhelming commentary of the current world stage, using age and youth, and flood and restoration as his metaphors. M-3, F-3. Softcover, 95 pp. $15.95. Orphan Muses Michel Marc Bouchard Four siblings gather with the idea of 'settling' family matters - some of which turn out to be not what they expected. Softcover, $12.95. Coronation Voyage Michel Marc Bouchard May 1953. The Empress of France sets sail from Montreal. On the pretext of attending the celebrations marking the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, an important Mafioso leaves for England where he secretly plans to live in exile with his two sons. Aboard this floating palace in the middle of the ocean, the petty lord of the Montreal underworld must face the most important decision of his dubious career: will he sacrifice his youngest son for safe conduct? Softcover, $16.95. Down Dangerous Passes Road Michel Marc Bouchard 15 years to the day after the death of their father, three brothers get together and drive out to the place where it happened: an old fishing spot on the river down Dangerous Passes Road. Each is facing a crucial rite of passage. Carl, the youngest brother, is to be married later in the day, and it is this occasion that has brought the three of them together. Ambrose is losing his lover to AIDS. Victor, the eldest, has just left his 2nd failed marriage. An extraordinary play about the cost of love. Softcover, $15.95. Heat Wave Michel Marc Bouchard A play about the lies that people tell in order to disguise their true selves and conceal their true emotions. Softcover, $12.95. Lilies Michel Marc Bouchard This romantic drama tells the story of Simon Doucet, past lover of now-Catholic priest Jean Bilodeau. Simon retells the story of their love to Jean while in rehearsal for the medieval drama The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastien. M 9-12 69 pp. $13.95. Back to top

Tale of Teeka Michel Marc Bouchard Bouchard's only children's play to date is the story of a friendship between a troubled boy and a goose, which ends tragically. A lyrical and challenging play for young audiences. Softcover, $15.95. 24 Exposures Serge Boucher "There is emptiness galore in this empty play. There are words full of emptiness in this play full of heartache. There is life and death: these small lives, these small deaths. And the ties that time has woven amoung them the members of this family, which keep them bound together. There is a family that I love." - Serge Boucher M-5, F-3. Softcover, 79 pp. $16.95. The Fairies are Thirsty Denise Boucher In this play three women -- a housewife, a whore, and the Virgin Mary -- fight to break out of the stereotyped roles in which they have been imprisoned for centuries. A bold, passionate, poetic exploration on the role of women through all time. F-3. 63 pp. $15.95. Motel Helene Serge Boucher Pursued and beset by two men - one a macho garage mechanic, the other a young homosexual - during the stifling atmosphere of a summer heatwave, Johanne struggles to make sense of herself as a woman. To make matters worse, she is also agonizing over the disappearance of her 6-year-old son, over two years earlier. M-2, F-1. 5.2 pp. $9.95. Odd Fish Pamela Boyd 20 years after fleeing the former Czechoslovakia, Jana has started a new life in Canada, living comfortably with her Canadian husband and two children, running a fishing marina. When a former lover unexpectedly returns to her life, her past and present collide and she is forced into a high-stakes game that will change her life forever. M-4, F-2. 94 pp. $12.95. Wade in the Water George Boyd Follow Nelson Williams Johns, a man in search of his roots, on an uplifting journey that begins in Civil War-era Georgia and leads to Sierra Leone. Nelson is forced to choose between a perilous freedom and the safety of the known on his quest for increased personal and social consciousness. Filled with lyrical dialogue and nuanced characters, Wade in the Water is a poignant story that celebrates the beauty of the human spirit. Softcover, 51 pp. $14.95. Gideon's Blues George Boyd With commanding language and unflinching honesty, Gideon's Blues offers entrance into the emotional dynamics of family and culture, by dealing with the powerful imperatives of love, fealty, devotion and justice. The profound humanity of Boyd's characters reminds us that neither drug abuse nor the breakdown of the traditional family is exclusive to the black community, but that because of racism, these problems have become more destructive to that community than they have to the dominant culture of North America. M4, W3. Softcover, 143 pp. $16.95. Consecrated Ground George Boyd Consecrated Ground is a compelling drama based on the 1960's relocation of the residents of Africville, a black community built on the shores of Halifax's Bedford Basin. M-4, F-2. 69 pp. $12.95.   Two, By George! George Elroy Boyd Consecrated Ground is a compelling drama based on the 1960's relocation of the residents of Africville, a black community built on the shores of Halifax's Bedford Basin. M-4, F-2. Gideon's Blues combines high drama and hard reality in a powerful exposition of racism and drugs set in contemporary Halifax. M-4, F-3. 124 pp. $18.00. Back to top

Morwyn Brebner The Optimists Morwyn Brebner A weekend in Vegas. The chance for hopes and dreams to come true provides the backdrop for Morwyn Brebner's humorous look at love. It's the night before the chapel wedding and the promise of "happily ever after." Old friends confront their regrets, lies, betrayals and disappointments. Will hope be the elusive wild card?   Little Mercy's First Murder: A Musical Morwyn Brebner A hard-boiled 1940's Manhattan newspaperman, sent to photograph a crime scene, goes on the lam with the suspect in Morwyn Brebner's new hit play -- a film noir/social drama/musical comedy! Winner of seven Dora Mavor Moore Awards. M-4, F-2. Softcover, 70 pp. $12.95. Music for Contortionist Morwyn Brebner In Morwyn Brebner's stunning playwriting debut, Valeska Gert -- 1930's cabaret star, avant-garde performance artist -- explains her life, love, and art from her own unique perspective. By turns hilarious and moving, Music for Contortionist is a wild ride. F-1., 1 contortionist 48 pp. $12.95. Liquor Guns Karate Morwyn Brebner Laurel and Chuck, a Toronto couple in their late 20's, visit Los Angeles for the funeral of Laurel's estranged father. An untimely affair, a bizzare reunion, terrible weather: hijinks ensue. M-2, F-2. 63 pp. $12.95. Magpie, Having and Hunger Striking: Three Plays Kit Brennan Three plays from award-winning playwright Kit Brennan which explore secrets, obsessions, and desire through the stories of three women, Bernice, the victim of small-town repression, Sarah, a former anorexia sufferer and young Erin, whose epileptic seizures leave her scared and vulnerable. 191 pp. $17.95. Spring Planting Kit Brennan Two widowed neighbors -- one an 81-year-old man, the other a 40-year-old woman -- try to console themselves while coping with a generation gap, and their incorrigible relationships with their respective families. M-2, F-2. 93 pp. $14.95. The Rap Canterbury Tales Baba Brinkman Rapper and MC Baba Brinkman brings his popular performance piece The Rap Canterbury Tales to the printed page, resurrecting Chaucer's brilliant stories from their vellum masoleum into visible and audible contemporary forms that will once again delight and edify both live audiences and readers. Softcover, 352 pp. $24.95. For Home and Country Leanna Brodie This provocative, warm play spans the over 100 year history of the Stoney Creek Women's Insititute with deft and eager understanding of the generational conflict that arose between the urban and rural feminists. No 'city mouse, country mouse' play, but wonderfully witty and a creative, welcome addition to the Canadian canon of playwrighting. 13 W, 8 M, Chorus. Softcover, 126 pp. $16.95. The Vic Leanna Brodie Steeped in ambiguity, this brilliant, envelope-pushing new play about the disturbing contemporary attitude that victim-hood confers entitlement, undermines and challenges conventional notions of victim, victory, and theatricality. F-8 126 pp. $16.95. Daniel Brooks The Noam Chomsky Lectures Daniel Brooks "Is it theatre?" -- Mira Friedlander, The Toronto Star "This is. . . meta-theatre." -- Robert Cushman, The Globe and Mail Co-authored with Guillermo Verdecchia, this dramatising of the ideas of Noam Chomsky makes for an intriging and thought-provoking theatrical experience. 93 pp. $15.95. Insomnia Daniel Brooks & Guillermo Verdecchia Unfolding in a series of ever more surreal vignettes, Insomnia employs a powerful brand of non-linear, disorienting storytelling that skillfully focuses an audience's attention. $12.95. Letters in Wartime Kenneth Brown & Stephen Scriver Can young love survive the lurking perils of World War II, especially when the closest thing to an embrace from your sweetheart in an occasional censored letter? Allan, a young RCAF pilot, and Moira, an auxilliary worker at Blatchford Field, Edmonton, try desperately to maintain their long-distance relationship, but is the printed word enough to keep love alive in a world turned upside down? This powerful enactment of a wartime adventure highlights the struggles, on both sides of the Atlantic, that test love's ability to conquer time, distance, war and even human nature. M-1, F-1. Softcover, 53 pp. $14.95. High Sticking Mark Brownell High Sticking, a collection of four short plays about hockey, explores the Canadian passion for the sport...as well as some of our other national obsessions! In Coach Kingston Tells It Like It Is, the coach educates a minor hockey dad on the importance of anger, hatred, loathing, giving 115% and the immortal soul. Eleanor, St. Etheldrum's own 14-year-old field hockey goon, ruminates on the finer points of the game - and Karl Marx, Louis Vuitton bags and much more - from her vantage point in the penalty box. In Life Without Gretzky, an Edmonton performance artist mourns The Great One's retirement. And Table Top features the first-ever table-top hockey brawl, as an Anglophone Leafs fan, and an American Rangers fan discover many points of contention... along with an enduring love for the "Big Board." Softcover, 76 pp. $14.95. Monsieur d'Eon Mark Brownell This beguiling play tells the true-life tale of an 18th century aristocrat who transforms himself into a woman during the peak of his political career. M-7, F-3. 99 pp. $14.95.   Prodigals in a Promised Land H. Jay Bunyan M-2, F-4. 68 pp. $10.95. Back to top

Ronnie Burkett 10 Days on Earth Ronnie Burkett Darrel is a middle-aged intellectually challenged man who lives with his mother. When she dies in her sleep, Darrel does not realize she is gone, and so, for over a week, he lives alone. Tandem to Darrel's day-to-day routine are the adventures of his favourite children's book characters, Honeydog and Little Burp. Their search for a home leads the dog and duck duo to an understanding of family, while Darrel's ease in the world illustrates just how his mother has paved the path for him to be without her. 10 Days on Earth asks: if you were alone but didn't know it, would you feel lonely? Softcover, 78 pp. $16.95. Provenance Ronnie Burkett Canadian art academic Pity Beane travels to Europe to trace the trail of the subject of her obsession, a painting of a young man known simply as "Tender". Now hidden in a Viennese brothel watched over by Leda Otenreath, a madam on the verge of madness, Pity finally sees the boy of her dreams. As Pity begins to unravel the provenance of the painting, she encounters prostitutes, a rollerskating monkey, a talking cow and glimpses of Leda's past. From the Paris art scene in the 1920s to glittering London salons, Leda's journey through the 20th century is one of constant re-invention, ever-changing and witnessed by the painting. Pity and Leda's encounter forces them to face their own brutal past, under the gaze of Tender's wartime horror. Each is released and transformed, and Pity returns home on her own beautiful journey. Softcover, 79 pp. $16.95. The Memory Dress Trilogy Ronnie Burkett Master Puppeteer Ronnie Burkett is a genius at storytelling who creates dozens of characters in Tinka's New Dress, Happy and Street of Blood - all plays for puppets but about human stories. This is such a unique creation that it deserves to be read by all who enjoy imaginative storytelling. The volumes are filled with photos which help create the characters voices while you read. Street of Blood Ronnie Burkett "Ronnie Burkett is one of the world's geniuses." -- The Village Voice. The second instalment of The Memory Dress Trilogy, this play was awarded a citation for excellence by UNIMA-USA Inc., the US branch of the Union Internationale de la Marionette. Softcover, 90 pp. OUT OF PRINT. Tinka's New Dress Ronnie Burkett The first instalment of The Memory Dress Trilogy, this play garnered the Best International Production Award at the Dublin Theatre Festival, five Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Awards, two Dora Moore Awards and a Special Citation Obie for distinguished achievement in Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway productions. Audiences around the world have been captivated by Burkett's writing skills and marionetting virtuosity. Softcover, 98 pp. OUT OF PRINT. Happy Ronnie Burkett The third and final instalment of The Memory Dress Trilogy, this play has won two Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Awards and at the time of publication has been nominated for awards in other cities where the production has been lauded Burkett's most stunning achievement. Burkett tackles themes of memory and loss, happiness and fate with warmth, wit and humanity. Softcover, 98 pp. OUT OF PRINT.   The Waterhead and Other Plays Adam Bushkowsky This collection of plays by Aaron Bushkowsky contains The Waterhead, The Big Blue Bird, and Between Mothers. Softcover, 79 pp. $17.95.     Strangers Among Us Aaron Bushkowsky Gabrielle and Michael meet by accident, fall in love, part, meet again and fall in love, part, meet again and fall in love all over again. Every time they meet, they forget each other's name because they suffer from Alzheimer's Disease. Eventually, they end up at a long-term care facility where they meet other people suffering from the same malady, extraordinary people who live and die with courage and hope. In the end, Michael and Gabrielle find love again and, in the process, change the lives of people around them. 97 pp. $13.95.   Back to top

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Last modified July 15, 2003 . Please note that all prices are in Canadian dollars. All prices are subject to change without notice.