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Canadian Plays

Welcome to the Canadian Plays section where you will find plays published in English from across Canada and plays in translation from French Canada. Plays are listed by playwright, by last name. Please note this section is under revision, with more formatting and images to come.

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Canadian Anthologies

If you are unsure of the author's name, please to to our search engine and enter the title of the work you are interested in.

Plays by Canadian playwrights are now appearing on stages around the world both in their original language and in translation. Many are award winners both in Canada and abroad. The creative imagination of the Canadian playwright knows no bounds and the publishers, equally creative, strive to produce beautiful editions for the reader. Our annotations are brief but we strive for acuracy in the description.

We stock and sell plays from Dramatists Play Service, Dramatic Publishing Co. and Samuel French Ltd. If you require cast breakdowns or any other information, please feel free to call us at (416) 922.7175 (toll-free 1.800.361.3414) or email us at action@theatrebooks.com.

New & Featured Canadian Plays

LucyLucy
Damien Atkins
A world-renowned and much-respected anthropologist, Vivian is most comfortable in her world of quiet solitude, balking at even the smallest of interactions with the outside world. Her life is abruptly changed, however, when her ex-husband shows up and asks Vivian to reassume custody of their thirteen-year-old autistic daughter, Lucy, while he settles in with his new wife. Overwhelmed by the particulars of Lucy's care and unable at first to connect with her daughter, Vivian soon realizes that she and Lucy are more alike than she ever could have expected -- a revelation that has powerful and disturbing consequences. m2, f3. Softcover, 84 pp. $16.95.


The Madonna PainterThe Madonna Painter
Michel Marc Bouchard
At the end of the First World War, to protect his village from the Spanish flu epidemic brought home by returning soldiers, a young priest recently arrived in the Parish of Lac St-Jean commissions a wandering Italian painter to decorate the walls of the local church with a fresco dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The presence of the foreign artist, his choice of a local virgin to serve as a model, and the frighteningly strange nature of his work will upset this lives and change the fate of the entire community. m3, f4. Softcover, 94 pp. $16.95.


Jocasta ReginaJocasta Regina
Nancy Huston
As Oedipus, Creon and Tiresias continue to fight it out in public, as the plague continues to wreak havoc in the city, we slip into the bedrooms, kitchen and infirmary of the palace of Thebes ... and learn at last, some two and a half millenia after Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, what went on in the indomitable heart heart and mind of Queen Jocasta. Softcover, 115 pp. $18.95.


Iskooniguni Iskweewuk Iskooniguni Iskweewuk
Tomson Highway
The Rez Sisters in its original version: Cree. Softcover, 127 pp. $16.95.



Harvest and Other PlaysHarvest and Other Plays

Ken Cameron
The past infiltrates the present and real life exists alongside the world of the imagination in this collection of three plays by Calgary-based writer Ken Cameron. In Harvest, Cameron turns a real-life incident involving his parents into a comedy about a rural couple who unwittingly rent out their farm to a marijuana grow-op. Softcover, 211 pp. $23.95.

Lady in the Red DressLady in the Red Dress
David Yee
Max, a lawyer for the Canadian Department of Justice, is losing his mind. In one nightmarish week he has been shot, punched, stabbed, had a heart attack, and is having conversations with dead men. A modern-day noir noir, Lady in the Red Dress is a darkly comic story about the skeletons in our closets and the consequences of our inactions told by one of Canada's most unorthodox young playwrights. 4m, 1f (both with doubling). Softcover, 94 pp. $16.95.


Shakespeare's DogShakespeare's Dog
Rick Chafe
With his sights on London and his family in Stratford, young Will is torn between the two loves of his life: the theatre and his wife. Set in a wild world full of unpredictable creatures -- beasts, beggars, witch hunters, and actors -- it's an Elizabethan-era collision of lust, love, and lives. Softcover, 121 pp. $16.95.


AfterimageAfterimage

Robert Chafe
Lise Lacoeur was used to being shunned. Her gift of seeing flashes of the future has left her as an outcast in her town. But Lise's life of solitude comes to an end when burn victim Winston Evans is admitted to the hospital where she works. Years later, two of their children, outcasts themselves, struggle to find their own place within the community. But Leo, their middle child, has other worries much closer to home. While familial tensions mount and buried secrets are revealed, the Evans family comes to see the monumental effect that even the smallest spark can create. 4m, 4f . 83 pp. $16.95.


The Eyes of HeavenThe Eyes of Heaven

Beverley Cooper
Fifteen-year old Eloise and her mother Glen are struggling mightily to deal with the recent death of the man who was both father and husband. Problems escalate when Eloise returns home from a gravel-pit party with a wild story about a big glowing light that chased her through a field. When the story hits the local newspaper, the whole community gets involved ... and life for Eloise and Glen changes forever. m-1, f-3. Softcover, 85 pp. $14.95.


Home ComingHome Coming
Leeann Minogue
When Jerry Wilson's broken leg spurs him and his wife Marlene to retire a little earlier than expected, their son Greg comes back from the city to take over the family farm. But everyone soon discovers that retirement isn't quite as idyllic as it looks in the commercials. m-2, f-3. Softcover, 108 pp. $14.95.


The TrespassersThe Trespassers
Morris Panych
Fifteen-year-old Lowell is no average teenager, and his grandfather, Hardy, is no conventional role model. Whether urging the boy to pilfer peaches from an orchard, arranging for his sexual initiation, or teaching him the importance of gambling, Hardy is the despair of Lowell's born-again mother, Cash. Buth how far into forbidden territory has Lowell actually ventured. m3, f2. Softcover, 95 pp. $16.99.


WelfarewellWelfarewell

Cat Delaney
Unsatisfied with her meagre government pension, 80-year-old Esmerelda Quipp resorts to a desperate (and hilarious) plan to get her sent to a place where she can be guaranteed food, shelter, and good company -- jail. However all does not go as planned when the perfectly lucid senior citizen finds her public defendor trying to get her off with an insanity plea. 1m, 7f. Softcover, 84 pp. $11.99.


String QuartetString Quartet

Ronnie Burkett
4 plays by Ronnie Burkett: Tinka's New Dress, Street of Blood, Happy, and Provenance. Softcover, 266 pp. $29.95.


One Voice: House & Here Lies HenryOne Voice: House & Here Lies Henry
Daniel MacIvor
Angry, hilarious, personal and wildly entertaining, House and Here Lies Henry are two of the most celebrated solo works by award winning playwright Daniel MacIvor. Softcover, 89 pp. $16.95.



Toronto the Good Toronto the Good
Andrew Moodie
Accusations of racial profiling are leveled against a Toronto police officer after she arrests a black man for illegal firearm possession. When top crown attorney Thomas Matthews is assigned to prosecute the accused against a left-leaning white attorney, tensions mount and personal politics bubble to the surface. From an ostensibly routine traffic stop, each character must come to terms with the racial politics and how they have shaped their own beliefs and prejustices. 6 actors, multiple roles. Softcover, 120 pp. $17.95.


ScratchScratch
Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman
When fifteen-year-old Anna is told that her mother is dying of cancer, she responds in the only way that she knows how: by ignoring the issue. Friends and family try to help, but Anna becomes increasingly frustrated by their attempts. And, if that weren't enough, the situation is made even worse by a raging case of head lice. Told by Anna with assistance from her best friend, father, aunt, and her dying mother, Scratch is a fresh, funny, and realistic play about the urgency of life an the heartache of loss. 2m, 4f. Softcover, 81 pp. $16.95.

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ForestsForests
Wajdi Mouawad
Part three of Wajdi Mouawad's dramatic quartet follows in the tradition of Tideline (Littoral) and Scorched (Incendies) as a heartbreaking journey through identity, family, and tragedy. In Forests a woman, Loup, courageously battles with the chain of abandoned childhoods that appear to be the fate of her tragic bloodline. Softcover, 156 pp. $18.95.


Margaret in Search of Herself and other playsMargaret in Search of Herself and other plays
Janice Goveas
Contains Margaret in Search of Herself, Philomena Across Time and Dinner with Akbar. Softcover, 147 pp. $19.95.

 


Anne & Gilbert: A MusicalAnne & Gilbert: A Musical
Jeff Hochhauser, Bob Johnston & Nancy White
Based on the sequel novels to Anne of Green Gables, this new Canadian musical continues the story of Anne Shirley's life. Set in the village of Avonlea and the Redmond College in Halifax, Anne and Gilbert follows Anne's journey to young adulthood and her romance with high school academic rival, Gilbert Blythe. Softcover, 113 pp. $12.99.


Shadows on Oak IslandShadows on Oak Island

Garnet Hirst & Deborah Preeper
Haunted by the loss of their son, an affluent Toronto couple, Rene and Jackson, retreat to the island to save their crumbling marriage. Shadows on Oak Island is a gripping, psychological thriller exploring the themes of guilt, betrayal and obsession. M-2, F-1. Softcover, 91 pp. $11.99.


Margaret in Search of Herself and other playsMargaret in Search of Herself and other plays

Janice Goveas
Contains Margaret in Search of Herself, Philomena Across Time and Dinner with Akbar. Softcover, 147 pp. $19.95.

 


Still Laughing: Three Adaptations by Morris PanychStill Laughing: Three Adaptations by Morris Panych
Morris Panych
The universal mark of good satire is still to make audiences laugh at the worst traits in human nature. Here, in his own words, is how Morris Panych updated these three great comedy classics from a century ago: The Government Inspector, Hotel Peccadillo, and The Amorous Adventures of Anatol. Softcover, 319 pp. $29.95.


The Cage and L'Ile de la DemoiselleThe Cage and L'Ile de la Demoiselle
Anne Hebert
Throughout her life, Anne Hebert was one of French Canada's most celebrated and best-loved writers. Internationally acclaimed for her novels and short stories, she was also a master poet and playwright. Published here for the first time in English translation, La cage and L'ile de la Demoiselle illustrate the depth and strength of Hebert's talent as a playwright and writer. Softcover, 131 pp. $18.95.


The GullThe Gull

Daphne Marlatt
Set in 1950, this play is situated at the historical moment when wartime restrictions on interned Japanese Canadians have been lifted, finally allowing them to return to the coast. The Gull dramatizes the historical link between the fishing town of Stevenson, home to many of these first, second, and third generation Japanese Canadians, and Mio, the coastal village in Wakayama from which many of their families originally emigrated. Winner of the prestigious 2008 Uchimura Naoya Prize and published here in a bilingual edition, The Gull is the first Canadian play staged in the ancient tradition of Japanese Noh. Softcover, 74 pp. $17.95.


Billy Twinkle: Requiem for a Golden BoyBilly Twinkle: Requiem for a Golden Boy
Ronnie Burkett
Billy Twinkle is a middle-aged cruise-ship puppeteer who dazzles audiences with his Stars in Minature marionette nightclub act. Billy is the best in the business and on top of the world as he floats along through life ... until he is fired by the cruise line. Standing at the edge of the ship, contemplating a watery demise, Billy is called back to reality when his dead mentor Sid Diamond appears as a handpuppet. Sid forces Billy to re-inact his life as puppet show, rekindling the passion Billy once had for puppets, people, and the dream of a life that sparkles. Softcover, 91 pp. $16.95.


The Morning BirdThe Morning Bird

Colleen Wagner
Beth and her husband Jake are expecting a baby. While Beth is having an ultrasound, her very expensive hand-sewn Italian-made coat disappears from the hospital waiting room. Beth is furious--the coat has become a symbol of the couple's destiny together and its loss now takes on inordinate significance. Each character will have to confront the shadow side of themselves before being able to hear the song of the morning bird. Softcover, 86 pp. $14.95.

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Last modified September 6, 2010.
Please note that all prices are in Canadian dollars. All prices are subject to change without notice.