WROL (Without Rule of Law)

by Michaela Jeffery

Judy Blume meets Rambo, WROL. (Without Rule of Law) is a darkly comic coming-of-age story for complicated times.
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In the garage of her suburban duplex, twelve-year-old Josephine makes apocalypse preparedness videos and posts them to YouTube. Vic takes Jujitsu. Maureen encrypts her text messages and hordes matches (because lighters fail). Sarah stuffs her knapsack with extra socks, granola, water filtration...

Judy Blume meets Rambo, WROL. (Without Rule of Law) is a darkly comic coming-of-age story for complicated times.
​
In the garage of her suburban duplex, twelve-year-old Josephine makes apocalypse preparedness videos and posts them to YouTube. Vic takes Jujitsu. Maureen encrypts her text messages and hordes matches (because lighters fail). Sarah stuffs her knapsack with extra socks, granola, water filtration tablets and Tolkien novels, because “you don’t know where you’re going to be… when it happens… you might not be at home.”

Convinced the world at large can’t be trusted to prioritize the well-being of adolescent girls in the event of a cataclysmic event (or just in general), this determined troupe of 8th grade ‘doomers’ are committed to preparing for survival in the post -collapse society they anticipate inheriting.

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WROL (Without Rule of Law)

Character Information

PLAYWRIGHT’S NOTE:

While the characters in this play are all young teens, its primary audience is adults. In the spirit of stories such as the 1986 film, “Stand by Me,” WROL (Without Rule of Law) invites its audience to remember what it felt like to be in eighth grade, determined to correct the injustices of the world.

As an extension of this intention, it isn’t necessary that these characters be portrayed by age-appropriate performers. In the world premiere production of WROL (Without Rule of Law), the decision was taken to cast performers who were closer to being forty than to being twelve – several were parents themselves. What this brought to the telling was an objectivity and deliberateness in capturing the tender strange wildness of what it feels like to be twelve years old.
  • MAUREEN
    Resilient. Ferocious. Empathetic. Maureen can pass as ‘well-adjusted' when she needs to, despite a continuous fire seething within her. She has abundant energy and drive – so much so that it sometimes comes bursting out beyond her control. She is trying her best to help the people in her life, and help them help themselves.
    12
    Female / Female Identifying
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female,
      Non-binary
  • JO
    For Jo, it’s always been a fight – nothing comes easily. Her relationships are hard-won and her trust not easily earned. She is messy and vital and wild and afraid. Unlike Maureen, she generally cannot pass as well adjusted (even when she needs to). She struggles to understand what grownups expect from her and has become reconciled to probably disappointing them. Under the skin, she is a determined force, a uniquely charismatic leader and a deeply vulnerable soul.
    12
    Female/ Female identifying
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female,
      Non-binary
  • ROBBIE
    Without being a bully, Robbie has a voice in any room. While he is not the most popular boy in school, he has never questioned whether or not he belongs. He can casually and easily fit into the system as it exists.
    13
    Male/Male Identifying
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Male
  • VIC
    Vic is an open book… except for her multitude of secrets. She is at ease with who she is, resistant to re-invention, even though she’s had to move schools a lot. She is perceptive and curious – a born listener, problem-solver, and not-so-secret badass.
    13
    Female/ Female identifying
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female,
      Non-binary
  • SARAH
    Rigorous, thoughtful, obsessive and intensely imaginative, Sarah has a naturally introverted energy, but glows like a beacon that can be seen for miles when she gets to let others in on the workings of her terrific brain.
    13
    Female/ Female identifying
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female,
      Non-binary

Development History

  • Reading, Touchstone Theatre / The Cultch, 2019
  • Reading, Theatre Direct/ Forward March Festival, 2019
  • Reading, Pat The Dog Theatre/ Playsmelter, 2019
  • Reading, Big Secret Theatre, 2018
  • Workshop, Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity (Banff Playwrights Lab), 2018

Production History

  • Professional, Persephone Theatre, 2019

Awards

  • Outstanding Original Script
    SATA - Saskatoon and Area Professional Theatre Awards
    Finalist
    2020
  • Top Ten Innovative Theatre Shows of 2018
    The Calgary Herald
    Winner
    2018
  • Alberta Playwriting Competition
    Alberta Playwrights Network
    Finalist
    2019