We accept PayPal, Visa & Mastercard
through our secure checkout.
|
Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth
Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth
|
Author: Drew Hayden Taylor Introduction by: Lee Maracle Publisher: Talonbooks Format: Softcover # of Pages: 112 Pub. Date: 1998 ISBN-10: 088922384X ISBN-13: 9780889223844 Cast Size: 2 Indigenous women, 2 Indigenous men
|
About the Play:
Winner of the 1996 Dora Mavor
Moore Award for Outstanding New Play
Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth is a full-length
drama by Drew Hayden Taylor. The heartwarming, emotional and
funny story of Janice, an Indigenous woman adopted by a white family,
who returns to the reserve in the wake of her birth mother's funeral.
Janice finds herself struggling to find a place where the culture of
her past can feed the truth of her present... connecting these two
lives is proving to be a challenge.
Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth tells the story of
Janice (birth name: Grace) is a Toronto lawyer, who was raised by a
white family after being removed as a baby from her birth mother on a
reserve. Janice's sister Barb ventures to Toronto with her boyfriend
Rodney and his brother Tonto to convince Janice to return to Otter
Lake to pay her last respects to her recently-deceased birth mother,
as well as to reconcile to some of her past. Janice was separated
from her birth family when she was just a toddler in the "scoop-up",
a known term depicting the removal of Indigenous children from their
families in the 1950's and 1960's. Janice agrees to return to say a
final goodbye and begins to deal with her feelings of anger and
resentment, as well as to seek forgiveness. Dealing with themes of
abandonment, reconciliation, identity, and cultural dissonance, Only
Drunks and Children Tell the Truth is a comically rich and
devastatingly truthful play, it also remains a powerful piece of
Canadian theatre.
Only Drunks and Children
Tell the Truth premiered in 1996 at the Native
Canadian Centre in Toronto and won the Dora Mavor Moore Award
for Outstanding New Play. Since
then the play has
been produced widely
at professional theatres across Canada
and in the
US. Though
it stands on it's own, Only Drunks and
Children Tell the Truth
is the second play in a heartwrenching trilogy that began with
Someday and concludes with 400 Kilometres.
Cast: 2 Indigenous female, 2 Indigenous male
What people say:
"This is a fine show …
thanks for Drew Hayden Taylor's writing …
He can make you laugh one minute, then cry the next, and leaves you
with lines and images that you will remember long after the curtain
comes down. This is not just a great Native production. This is a
great production. Period." — CBC
"…this play is a very
tender, engaging look at two strangers learning to be sisters…
witty one liners and snappy dialogue has crafted likeable, real
characters… brings a satisfying sense of closure to the struggles
of Barb and Janice/Grace. It is a welcome ending, one that reflects
hope for the future – not only for these two sisters, but also for
all the others who have yet to find their way home." —
Aboriginal Voices
"This tale is reflective of
real life situations and proves once again that inner strength and
fortitude can help overcome our worst nightmares… could be one of
Taylor's best works to date…a moving piece of work that combines
realism with satire and comedy and leaves the reader (or viewer) with
memories and images they won't soon forget…. Down to earth dialogue
and realistic character portrayals make Only Drunks and
Children Tell the Truth an outstanding read, and one
that is likely to have its effect on anyone who picks it up."
— Alberta Native News
About the Playwright:
Drew Hayden Taylor is an award-winning playwright, a
journalist/columnist, short-story writer, novelist, television
scriptwriter, and documentary film maker. An Ojibwa from the Curve
Lake First Nation in central Ontario, he is widely known for his
thoughtful and sharply witty observations on Aboriginal subjects and
issues. He has worn many hats in his literary career, everything from
performing stand-up comedy at Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, to
serving as artistic director for Canada's premiere Aboriginal theatre
company, Native Earth Performing Arts.
|
|
|
|