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Shakin' the Stage

Shakin' the Stage
Your Price: $17.95 CDN
Edited by: Glenda MacFarlane
Publisher: Scirocco Drama
Format: Softcover
# of Pages: 208
Pub. Date: 2003
ISBN-10: 0920486452
ISBN-13: 9780920486450

About the Book:

Theatre Direct Canada, one of the country's leading producers of new provocative drama for young adult audiences, specializes in plays by youthful writers aimed at yet more youthful audiences and which alternates between taking plays into schools and having the schools come to them. Theatre Direct shook the stage in 2000 and 2002 with "Buncha' Young Artists Havin' Their Say." The four-play Festivals presented in the Backspace at Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto featured a quartet of exciting new one-act dramas with weekday matinees for schools and evening and weekend performances for the general public. The plays are neither written by nor intended for children; instead some of the most dynamic young playwrights in Canada, who have growing experience but are still young enough to know of what they speak, address themselves to teens and twentysomethings.

In Shakin' the Stage editor Glenda MacFarlane has selected four of the eight plays for this important collection that highlights Theatre Direct's sharp-edged style of theatre and offers a powerful tool for young actors, high school drama classes and professional theatre artists who want to explore the authentic voices and stories of young adults. Especially recommended for school and contest use.

The plays in Shakin' the Stage include:

Misha is a one-act drama by Adam Pettle: Victim. Killer. Witness. Young Jew kills a fellow young Jew. The deconstruction of a violent schoolyard murder as told by the one who survived. A chilling play inspired by a real-life murder, Misha is a powerful investigation of male identity, faith, and violence. (Cast: 3 male)

The Phoenix Rides a Skateboard a one-act drama by Kate Rigg: A young adopted Asian girl struggling to find her identity in white Canada enters the world of skating and skateculture. Along the way she kick-flips Asian stereotypes as she flies, leaps and rides the rails of teenage life as the one who no one gets. She's also searching online for her birth parents, looking for clues to her past and direction for her future. (Cast: 1 female)

Boys a one-act drama by Paul Dunn about growing up, and realizing what it means to be a man. This solo show delves into the lives of three men: a busker, a fast food junkie, and a commitment-shy gay student who are connected by their lack of direction and bewilderment at 20-something life. A story of ABBA, Ham and Cheese Sandwiches and Army Fetishes. (Cast: 1 male)

Pop Song a one-act drama by Sean Reycraft (Chalmers Award Winner, 2000): Set entirely on the dance floor of a high-school gym, it follows the recalcitrant Steve and the engaging Stacey through the gestation of a teen romance. Inspired by the real story of a teen who gave birth to a baby during her prom, Pop Song looks at a teenage couple's affair backward, through a series of vignettes that take place at school dances. (Cast: 1 female, 1 male)

What people say:

"None of these plays resolves itself into a comfortable moral position but each represents a serious attempt to wrestle fundamental issues of humanity." — Toronto Star

"These artists are certain that young people are uncertain, definite about adolescent confusion and emphatic about the rootlessness of contemporary youth." — The Globe & Mail

About the Editor:

Glenda MacFarlane is a Canadian playwright and performer. Her work has appeared in several anthologies, on CBC radio and on stages across the country.