Recommended by Maggie Gallant

  • FAMILY TREE
    5 Mar. 2022
    The stakes and the conflict in this piece are high from the outset and the tension is built before Rachel and Sarah even arrive. This is such a huge, timely and important set of issues to tackle - fertility, conception, who has the right to be called 'mother'. But what makes this a riveting read is the many shifts in power dynamics and alliances, and the reveals by each character to the others.
  • YUKI: A CAREGIVER MONOLOGUE
    2 Mar. 2022
    As with many of Asher Wyndham's monologues, there's a lot of real-life humour, mixed with pathos, mixed with anger, and the results come tumbling out of Yuki in a tightly written stream of consciousness. People like Yuki are true heroes but they're also human and looking after residents is hard and unrelenting, especially during a pandemic. Sometimes you just want your goddamn smoke break.
  • 1101 WELLINGTON WAY - DUOLOGUE (from the MAD FOR MYSTERY Collection)
    2 Mar. 2022
    I hadn't read many duologues before but I really liked the structure and pacing of this piece. I listened to the Wireless Theatre Company recording before I read the script and loved the audio performance - a wonderful modern life melodrama with deliciously named characters and a twisty plot.
  • THE MADNESS OF MEMORY (from the MAD FOR MYSTERY Collection)
    2 Mar. 2022
    I love to read other writers' interpretations of dementia and caregiving for parents. This piece by Vivian Lermond captured so much of the real world experience and I thought I knew where it was going. But then she turns, throws us for a loop and Ieaves us to contemplate it all at the end! Beautifully done and I'm not surprised it's had so many wonderful recommendations.
  • Would You Like Help With That? *A Zoom Play*
    30 Jan. 2022
    Absolutely loved this clever and touching piece. The line 'Those old files are inaccessible' brought a lump to my throat. Working in a memory care environment I've had those conversations with people many times over and used very similar analogies. Floyd-Priskorn touches on so much within a few pages - the isolation wrought by Covid, family guilt, memory fragments. The turns and revelations are made with such a delicate and skilled hand. Wonderful.
  • Return to Mother's Nest
    28 Dec. 2021
    How do you go home to a place that no longer exists for you, neither physically nor metaphorically? The playwright keeps us guessing with this beautiful and disturbing exchange between mother and daughter. So much of the past cleverly hinted at and an immediate future that's truly creepy,
  • It's Spring!
    27 Dec. 2021
    i love the central conceit of this piece - the weather collective gathering to discuss Spring into Summer plans. Lots of trademark Feeny-Williams humour as the weathers jostle for position and prominence. Each of them with a very distinct voice - I particularly enjoyed Light Breeze. A lovely interactive opening too, as the audience enter and are seated.
  • Caged
    27 Dec. 2021
    Oh the joys of staying with in-laws and having to be up at the crack of dawn just to get some time alone. This great funny short play has elements of farce with the comings and goings and misunderstandings. Fast-paced read with snappy dialogue, I was shouting at them all in my head to give poor Rachel a break. Would be a fun one to see staged.
  • SOME SCHOOL BUS DRIVER: A MONOLOGUE
    30 Nov. 2021
    Asher Wyndham manages to take seemingly ordinary people and gives them voice to say important things about our culture, without ever feeling like a soapbox. Omar is a wonderfully complex character and the writer tells us just enough about his Bosnian heritage for us to understand what he's been through and why he is so passionate about peace and love. That the parents of the children who ride his bus denounce him for this is painful but all too believable. But Omar won't be defeated. Would love to see an actor take this on.
  • Check Me Out
    27 Nov. 2021
    I just had to read this piece out loud to myself. The characters are so distinctive, fun and funny, and would be great to play onstage. Love the premise and it all ties together wonderfully.

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