About the Play:

Winner of the Outstanding New Work at the 2019 Winnipeg Theatre Awards

New Magic Valley Fun Town is a full-length drama by Daniel MacIvor. A trailer in Cape Breton becomes the setting for a reunion between two childhood friends. A rollicking Maritime celebration – complete laughter, drinking, and dancing – eventually winds down, and the old friends begin to confront the secrets they've both tried so hard to leave behind. New Magic Valley Fun Town is a funny, beautiful play about the length and limits of memory.

New Magic Valley Fun Town is a moving portrait about what we choose to forget and how we decide to move on. Cape Bretoner Dougie hasn't seen his best childhood pal Allen in 25 years. Based on what can be seen on Facebook, things have changed, but Dougie has no doubt they'll easily reconnect when Allen comes to visit. With the added flair of Dougie's estranged wife Cheryl and grad-student daughter Sandy, it's no surprise that their reunion is a boisterous night reminiscing, drinking, and dancing. But as the party progresses, shadows from Dougie and Allen's past come out to play, bringing along tough questions that force them to confront the realities of their past.

New Magic Valley Fun Town had a rolling premiere in 2019 at Prairie Theatre Exchange in Winnipeg and closed at Tarragon Theatre in Toronto, where audience response made it one of the highest-grossing productions in Tarragon's 50-year history. That was followed by a run at Halifax's Neptune Theatre, before playing to sell-out crowds and rave reviews across Canada.

Cast: 2 female, 2 male

What people say:

"I walked in with few expectations ... and was surprised at every turn by how the early broad funny moments led to still and poignant ones, how the initially comic characters deepened and deepened, and how the tears that rolled down my cheeks from laughing, hard, were followed by emotional ones earned by this moving portrait of difficult, traumatized humans trying to live and love as best they can. ...I wish only that both the audiences who have followed MacIvor and those who have never heard of him to see this play and marvel at a voice maturing into a new form of greatness." — The Globe and Mail

"New Magic Valley Fun Town is a character study with the urgency of a compelling whodunit. Over 90 minutes (with no intermission), it takes us on a roller-coaster ride punctuated with notes of comedy, poignant drama, horror and poetry." — Winnipeg Free Press

"Daniel MacIvor's New Magic Valley Fun Town is a brilliant, must-see, Cape Breton comedy with deep poignancy and a powerful ending that will leave you shaken and blessed." — NS Reviews

About the Playwright:

Daniel MacIvor is one of Canada's most accomplished playwrights and performers. Winner of the Governor General's Literary Award (Canadian equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize), the prestigious Elinore and Lou Siminovitch Prize, and many others, his plays have been met with acclaim throughout North America.