About the Plays:

Airplay, Anthology Of CBC Radio Drama is a book of scripts from some of the best of CBC-Radio drama – including Emil Sher's Mourning Dove, which transfixed the audience of Morningside with a drama played in the shadow of a real-life mercy-killing. Edited by Dave Carley, himself a playwright and senior script editor for CBC Radio Performance, the collection also contains Lorre Jensen's The Mercy Quilt; Judith Thompson's Stop Talking Like That; George F. Walker's How To Make Love To An Actor; and Crackpot, Rachel Wyatt's dramatization of Adele Wiseman's novel.

The Mercy Quilt by Lorre Jensen is a touchingly humorous portrait of a quartet of elderly native women who must deal with the memory lapses of one of their number – without causing her to lose face. (First broadcast on Sunday Showcase in 1997; Cast: 5 women, 3 men)

Mourning Dove by Emil Sher is a highly-acclaimed drama based on the case of Robert Latimer, the Saskatchewan farmer convicted of murdering his disabled daughter, and gives unprecedented voice to the concerns of the disabled. (First broadcast on Morningside in 1996; Cast: 6 women, 8 men)

In Stop Talking Like That, we fly from Thunder Bay to Australia's Ayer's Rock at the drop of a sound cue, in a wild outpouring from Judith Thompson's fantastic imagination. (First broadcast on Monday Night Playhouse in 1995; Cast: 6 women, 7 men)

George F. Walker targets actors and film producers with his snappy satirical lines in How to Make Love to an Actor, his first play for radio. The play revolves around two actors Jess and Sandy, and their acting teacher Willie. Jess works in theatre and is very serious about her art, whereas Sandy just wants to get paid. Jess' ideals rub off on Sandy and the two refuse to audition for a B movie role as a prostitute who is a victim of a serial killer. Then they find out that their teacher Willie is considering auditioning for the role of the serial killer. How to Make Love to an Actor is a wicked and very telling take on the big egos lurking behind the big screen. (First broadcast on Sunday Showcase in 1995; Cast: 2 women, 2 men)

And Rachel Wyatt dramatizes a much-loved Canadian novel, Crackpot by Adele Wiseman, the story of a Winnipeg prostitute with a heart the size of the Prairies. (First broadcast on Stereodrama in 1994; Cast: 5 women, 8 men)

About the Editor:

Dave Carley is a Canadian playwright. He has written for stage, radio and television. His plays have had close to 500 productions, and have been produced across Canada and the United States, and in many countries around the world. His plays have won, or been nominated for, a number of awards, including the Governor General's Award, The Chalmers Award, The Dora Award, The Arthur Miller Award (University of Michigan) and the New York International Radio Festival Award.