DAYBREAK

by Joyce Van Dyke

In this time-shifting, dream-like play, two women use theatricality, storytelling and humor to remake the world of their fractured past. DAYBREAK is a lyrical story of two friends, survivors of the 1915 Armenian genocide, who are transported with their families into the 21st century future. Inspired by the true stories of my Armenian grandparents, DAYBREAK is an intimate emotional story with epic political...

In this time-shifting, dream-like play, two women use theatricality, storytelling and humor to remake the world of their fractured past. DAYBREAK is a lyrical story of two friends, survivors of the 1915 Armenian genocide, who are transported with their families into the 21st century future. Inspired by the true stories of my Armenian grandparents, DAYBREAK is an intimate emotional story with epic political and cultural reverberations.

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DAYBREAK

Recommended by

  • Eugene O'Neill Theater Center: DAYBREAK by Joyce Van Dyke
    “

    It is the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's pleasure to recommend Joyce Van Dyke and their play Daybreak as a finalist for our 2011 National Playwrights Conference. The play rose through a competitive, anonymous, multileveled selection process that took nearly nine months to execute. As one finalist out of hundreds of submissions, the strength of this play’s writing has allowed this work to prosper in such a competitive selection process.

    It is the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's pleasure to recommend Joyce Van Dyke and their play Daybreak as a finalist for our 2011 National Playwrights Conference. The play rose through a competitive, anonymous, multileveled selection process that took nearly nine months to execute. As one finalist out of hundreds of submissions, the strength of this play’s writing has allowed this work to prosper in such a competitive selection process.

    ”

Character Information

The play is designed for a cast of six (4 women and 2 men). Doubling as follows:
VICTORIA (no doubling)
VARTER / ROSE
ZULAL / GUZELL
SHOSHANA EPSTEIN / RUBY
HARRY / THE VALI / MAN WITH ROSES
MR. NAZARIAN / GARDENER / MATTHEW
  • Gardener
    Gardener who works for Victoria and Harry. Romantic, and a good singer. Played by the actor who plays Mr. Nazarian.
    30s to 40s
    Mexican
    Male
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      30s,
      40s
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Latinx/o/a or Hispanic,
      Middle Eastern, North African, or Arab American
  • Rose
    Victoria and Harry's daughter. A housewife. Very American. Played by the actor who plays Varter.
    30s to 40s
    Armenian-American
    Female
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s,
      30s,
      40s
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Middle Eastern, North African, or Arab American,
      White
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female
  • Shoshana Epstein
    A feminist and researcher working on an oral history project at UCLA.
    30s to 40s
    Jewish
    Female
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      30s,
      40s
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Latinx/o/a or Hispanic,
      Middle Eastern, North African, or Arab American,
      White
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female
  • Matthew
    Victoria's great-grandson, a 21st-century historian. Played by the actor who plays Mr. Nazarian and Gardener.
    30s
    Armenian-American
    Male
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      30s,
      40s
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Latinx/o/a or Hispanic,
      Middle Eastern, North African, or Arab American,
      White
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Male
  • Victoria
    Intense but self-controlled. An amateur actress.
    50s at beginning of play, ages to 130
    Armenian
    Female
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      40s,
      50s,
      60s,
      70s+
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Middle Eastern, North African, or Arab American
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female
  • Guzell
    A 21st century Turkish woman diplomat. Played by the same actor who plays Zulal.
    30s
    Turkish
    Female
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      30s
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Middle Eastern, North African, or Arab American
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female
  • Varter
    Victoria's best friend. Varter is beautiful, with enormous, charismatic vitality.
    30s to 40s
    Armenian
    Female
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s,
      30s,
      40s
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Middle Eastern, North African, or Arab American
  • Ruby
    Shoshana's daughter. A 21st century official with the United Nations. Played by the same actor who plays Shoshana.
    30s
    Jewish
    Female
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      30s
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Middle Eastern, North African, or Arab American,
      White
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female
  • Harry
    Victoria's husband, a successful builder. He has a deep well of rage and bitterness, but also a sense of humor, a joker and storyteller.
    50 at beginning of play, ages to 90
    Armenian
    Male
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      50s,
      60s,
      70s+
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Middle Eastern, North African, or Arab American
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Male
  • Zulal
    A friend and neighbor of Victoria.
    30s to 40s
    Turkish
    Female
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s,
      30s
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Middle Eastern, North African, or Arab American
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female
  • Mr. Nazarian
    Varter's husband, a wealthy businessman, in love with his wife.
    30s to 40s
    Armenian
    Male
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      30s,
      40s
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Middle Eastern, North African, or Arab American
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Male
  • The Vali
    The governor of the province of Kharpert in the Ottoman Empire. Played by the same actor who plays Harry and Man with Roses.
    50s at beginning of play, ages to 130
    Turkish/Kurdish
    Male
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      40s,
      50s
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Middle Eastern, North African, or Arab American,
      South Asian or South Asian American
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Male
  • Man with Roses
    A man in the audience at Victoria's performance. Played by the same actor who plays Harry and The Vali.
    40s to 50s
    Male
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      40s,
      50s
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Middle Eastern, North African, or Arab American,
      South Asian or South Asian American
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Male

Development History

  • Reading, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, 2017
  • Reading, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, 2015
  • Reading, Yerevan theatre group, 2014
  • Reading, Salon Mashup festival, Shoreditch Town Hall, London, 2013
  • Reading, Boston Theatre Marathon, 2011

Production History

  • Professional, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, 2018
  • University, Tufts University, 2015
  • Workshop, Boston Playwrights' Theatre (workshop of an earlier version of the play produced under the title, DEPORTED / A DREAM PLAY), 2012

Awards

  • National Endowment for the Arts production grant
    NEA
    2017
  • O'Neill National Playwrights' Conference
    Finalist
    2011