About the Play:

Winner of the 2010 Governor-General's Award (Canadian-equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize)

Afterimage is a full-length drama by Robert Chafe, based on the short story of the same name by Giller Prize-nominated writer Michael Crummey. In a Newfoundland town, a woman develops the mysterious ability to see flashes of the future. The truth is hard to hide from other people, especially within her own family. When shocking secrets are revealed, danger looms not only on the horizon but also in the home. Winner of the Governor General's Award, Afterimage features a suspenseful story as well as a heartbreaking perspective on the bonds and boundaries of love.

Afterimage revolves around a family that is created and devastated by an accidental electrocution and an unexpected adoption. Lise Lacoeur is used to being shunned. Her gift of seeing flashes of the future has left her as an outcast in the Newfoundland mining company town of Buchans. But Lise's life of solitude comes to an end when burn victim Winston Evans is admitted to the hospital where she works. It is this gift that lets her see beyond Winston' disfiguring scars and fall in love. Years later, two of their children, Theresa and Jerome, outcasts themselves, have inherited Lise's gift and must struggle to find their own place within the community. But Leo, their perfectly normal adopted middle child, that is just the start of his worries. As he grows older and the chasm between himself and his family grows, Leo realizes that he doesn't belong to his family. While familial tensions mount and buried secrets are revealed, the Evans family comes to see the monumental effect that even the smallest spark can create. Based on the short story by lauded poet and novelist Michael Crummey, Afterimage explores the connections built within both family and community, of finding a place to belong.

Afterimage premiered in 2009 at the Enwave Theatre as part of WorldStage Festival in Toronto and won the 2010 Governor-General's Award for Drama. Since then the play has been performed in regional repertory, high school, college, and community theatre productions. Particularly suitable for schools and play contests.

Cast: 4 women, 4 men

What people say:

"Afterimage is innovative and highly unusual ... You won't find a more charged production… high wattage theatre." — Now Magazine

"…relentlessly inventive… creepy and compelling." — The Globe and Mail

About the Playwright:

Robert Chafe is a Canadian playwright and actor who has worked in theatre, dance, opera, radio, fiction and film. His stage plays have been seen in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and in the United States. He has been shortlisted twice for the Governor General's Literary Award for Drama and he won the award for Afterimage in 2010. He has been guest instructor at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, and The National Theatre School of Canada. In 2018 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Memorial University of Newfoundland. He is currently Playwright in Residence and director of Artistic Fraud Theater in St. John's Newfoundland.

Michael Crummey is an internationally celebrated Canadian novelist and poet, He is the author of eight books of poetry, a book of short stories, a book of nonfiction, and four celebrated novels, including the Giller-prize nominated River Thieves.