Outgrowth by Toby Malone

Rugged Australian adventurer Alby Baker was named for a tropical cyclone that battered the coast as he was born. He has family, love, and inner peace: so why is he compulsively drawn to pluck and eat his own beard hairs? Having made a choice to live in Toronto - the planet’s direct opposite geographic point from his sleepy Australian beachside hometown - Alby is forced to confront, alongside his wife and best...
Rugged Australian adventurer Alby Baker was named for a tropical cyclone that battered the coast as he was born. He has family, love, and inner peace: so why is he compulsively drawn to pluck and eat his own beard hairs? Having made a choice to live in Toronto - the planet’s direct opposite geographic point from his sleepy Australian beachside hometown - Alby is forced to confront, alongside his wife and best friend, that some storms can only be kept inside for so long.
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Outgrowth

Recommended by

  • Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend:
    9 Dec. 2021
    “ Well this one will stick with you. The story of an Australian man with a big beard (which he eats!) and an inability to settle down, this unique play has Alby, his best friend, and his wife, talking to the audience, telling Alby's story to us and occasionally acting bits out. Projections are also used throughout the play, making the whole thing feel like a wonderful, theatrical story. A play about restlessness, home, fears, and how little we sometimes know the the ones we love, this play and its three characters will stick with you. Poetic! ”
  • Maximillian Gill:
    9 May. 2021
    “ A play that had me at the opening description. Malone gets so much drama out of the struggle of a man grooming his facial hair that I was instantly hooked. Little did I know how much this simple image would dominate this incredible play. Alby is a figure painted both broadly and intimately, a force of nature that we grow to love just as the other characters do. He is also a testament to the maxim that you can know nearly everything about a person but hardly know them. The writing is wonderful, poetic, and deeply evocative. A triumph. ”
  • Ky Weeks:
    26 Apr. 2021
    “ Begins with an image that's intimate as well as unusual and unsettling to encounter so openly in a play. And then Malone's powerfully worded play spirals out from that image to encompass a character, unusual and hard to fully grasp at first, but treated with such tenderness, detail, and intimacy, that his life and journey take root and grow into something painful and moving. ”
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Character Information

  • Albert 'Alby' Baker
    Late 30's/early 40's, Array
    Naturally bearded. Strong natural Australian accent.
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      30s, 40s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      Any race/ethnicity
    • Gender: 
      Male
  • Natalie 'Nat' Baker
    30s,
    Canadian
    Early to mid 30's. Canadian. Race immaterial.
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      30s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      Any race/ethnicity
    • Gender: 
      Female
  • Yakshit 'Seth' Sethi
    30s,
    Indian-Canadian
    Early 30's. First generation Canadian of Indian background.
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      30s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      South Asian or South Asian American
    • Gender: 
      Male, Non-binary