About the Play:

Finalist for the 2018 Governor General's Literary Award (Canadian equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize)

Gertrude and Alice is a full-length drama by Evalyn Parry and Anna Chatterton, in collaboration with Karin Randoja. This two-hander chronicles the romantic, sexual, social and work life of 20th-century literary icon Gertrude Stein and her devoted partner of nearly 40 years, Alice B. Toklas. Gertrude and Alice is the highly acclaimed story of their remarkable life together.

Gertrude and Alice is about the lives and work of perhaps the best-known lesbian couple of the early 20th century, writer and thinker Gertrude Stein and her devoted partner, Alice B. Toklas. Visiting the audience in the present day, Gertrude and Alice come to talk about what their legacy is and what their impact as experimental mavericks from more than a century ago has been. The couple recounts stories of their forty-year relationship; of meetings with iconic artists and writers; and of Alice's overwhelming, consuming devotion to Gertrude's genius. Before they leave, they want to find out what has become of their artistic and cultural influence, and how their lives and work are – or are not – remembered. One of the most significant and contentious female voices in the 20th century, Gertrude Stein rose to international notoriety with her memoir The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. She is known for her experimental literary works and her mentorship of her friends Pablo Picasso, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway, but her own work remains hotly debated for its controversial and sometimes contradictory statements. Her genius, however, was unquestioned by her partner Alice B. Toklas, who dedicated her life to supporting the work of the woman she loved.

Gertrude and Alice premiered in 2016 at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in Toronto, with authors Evalyn Parry and Anna Chatterton as the inestimable couple Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas.

Cast: 2 female

What people say:

"...incredibly compelling… a picture of a complicated but devoted couple that had tears streaming down my face." — My Entertainment World

"Parry and Chatterton make us thankful for the arrival of these two legendary women." — The Toronto Star

"Charming… it's the heart of the piece that hits you." — The Globe and Mail

About the Playwright:

Evalyn Parry is a Canadian singer-songwriter, playwright, director and stage actress who has worked in the theatre industry for over 20 years. Her work as a director, musician, creator/performer and collaborator is inspired by intersections of social justice, history, and auto/biography.

Anna Chatterton is a Canadian playwright, who is a two-time finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for Drama. Her plays have been produced by The Shaw Festival, Tarragon Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Theatre Centre, and Nightwood Theatre, among others.