2006 Finalists - Drama
Morwyn Brebner, Toronto, for The Optimists
(Scirocco Drama, an imprint of J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing; distributed by University of Toronto Press) (ISBN 0-920486-88-6)
Morwyn Brebner’s resonant, bittersweet comedy traps two couples in one Las Vegas hotel room. Chick and Teenie are getting married; Doug and Margie are splitting up. A quirky dissection of faith, love and class, The Optimists is also a flawlessly-observed testament to our enduring belief that things will work out for the best.
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Lisa Codrington, Toronto, for Cast Iron
(Playwrights Canada Press; distributed by the publisher) (ISBN 0-88754-842-3)
Lisa Codrington’s Cast Iron is a luminous, one-woman memory play, relating the life story of Libya Geraldine Atwell. Through the musicality of Bajan dialect, Libya embodies the many characters who shaped her history, from the cane fields of Barbados to her nursing home in Winnipeg. Codrington conveys the tragic story of Libya’s life with rich layers of wit and contradiction.
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Daniel MacIvor, Halifax, for I Still Love You
(Playwrights Canada Press; distributed by the publisher) (ISBN 0-88754-858-X)
MacIvor’s anthology of five plays is as impressive in its consistency as in its diversity. His is a compassionate yet edgy world view, enlivened by idiosyncratic humour and honesty, exploring unusual theatrical structures in order to throw light into both the shallows and the depths of contemporary life.
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Jason Sherman, Toronto, for Adapt or Die: Plays New and Used
(Playwrights Canada Press; distributed by the publisher) (ISBN 0-88754-896-2)
Adapt or Die is a collection of four plays inspired by Russian masterpieces and infused with Sherman’s sharp wit, political commentary and emotional insight. After the Orchard, the centrepiece of the collection, is an original play that captures the dissolution of a 20th century family amid a shifting social landscape.
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Drew Hayden Taylor, Toronto, for In a World Created by a Drunken God
(Talonbooks; distributed by Publishers Group Canada / Raincoast Books) (ISBN 0-88922-537-0)
In Drew Hayden Taylor’s compelling drama, two half brothers meet for the first time. Jason is a half-native Canadian. Harry is a non-native American. This well-crafted work pits exploitation and abandonment against privilege and comfort, in an ethical debate that surmounts stereotypes of status and culture.
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