About the Play:

The Valley is a full-length drama by Joan MacLeod. The gripping drama revolves around four characters: a first-year university student struggling with mental illness, the mother who tries to support him, a police officer who confronts him and a recovering addict. The lives of the four collide over an incident that echoes tragic, real-life headlines, bringing the audience into the world of the four people as they try to make sense of what's happening to them.

The Valley dramatizes the volatile relationship between law enforcement and people in the grip of mental illness. Eighteen-year-old Connor, an aspiring author whose fantastical stories foretell his growing struggle with depression, can't wait to be free of his adverb-wielding, solve-it-all mother, Sharon. But six weeks after leaving for university, he drops out and returns home. Dan Mulano is an infatuated new dad and well-meaning police officer whose selfishness is veiled by the lofty aspirations he holds for his family. His wife, Janie, a former addict and exhausted new mom, struggles to cope with the challenges of recovery in the midst of her battle with postpartum depression, which Dan dismisses as “just hormones.” A precipitous incident brings the two families together. When Connor's erratic behaviour at a Vancouver Skytrain station requires police intervention, Dan responds to the call and makes the arrest, but the teen's jaw is broken during the incident. Is it police brutality or self-harm? For Sharon, there is no question; she portrays Dan as a reckless cop in the media, while he remains silent, refusing to break protocol and tell his story. The Valley deftly reaches behind the headlines to the core of complicated and complex issues surrounding mental illness, parenting and law enforcement.

The Valley premiered in 2013 at the Martha Cohen Theatre during Alberta Theatre Projects (ATP) National playRites Festival of New Plays in Calgary. Since then the play has been produced widely at professional and community theatres across Canada and has only become more relevant, discussing mental health and police violence, issues ubiquitous in the North American collective consciousness.

Cast: 2 female, 2 male

What people say:

"With her new play The Valley, playwright Joan MacLeod peers behind the headlines in a subtle work that avoids all the romantic traps that typically ensnare those who write about mental illness. Focusing on two families, she takes a close, clear-eyed look at our society – one where individual rights and freedoms are constantly clashing with the desire to protect, at home and on the streets." — Globe and Mail

"A wonderful piece of writing … not to be missed." — Toronto Star

"Macleod has a wonderful ear and eye for the everyday details of Canadian life." — Calgary Herald

"The Valley is full of universal truths and intimately unique characters. It's also remarkably topical." — The Martlet (The University of Victoria)

"A gripping, emotional play that will have you shifting your allegiances from one character to another as the truth is revealed." — Calgary Sun

"The Valley is like a rickety sculpture. It's lopsided. It barely holds itself up. And yet there's a kind of beauty in it. … [it makes] emotional and poetic sense." — Georgia Straight

About the Playwright:

Joan MacLeod is an internationally celebrated Canadian playwright. She grew up in North Vancouver, lived for eight years in Toronto as playwright-in-residence at Tarragon Theatre, before settling on Bowen Island just outside Vancouver. Since 2004, she has taught at the department of writing at University of Victoria. Her plays have been extensively produced around the world, and she has won multiple theatre awards, including the recipient the Governor General's Award, two Chalmers Canadian Play Awards and the 2011 Siminovitch Prize in Theatre, Canada's largest theatre award.