About the Play:

Toronto, Mississippi is a full-length drama by Joan MacLeod. Jhana, an autistic young adult, lives with her mother and a boarder. Jhana's estranged father – a professional Elvis impersonator – arrives unexpectedly. What follows is an exploration of fragmented identities and fractured understandings. This heartwarming and touching gem of a play came out of the author's decade-long involvement as a social worker helping the mentally challenged as a life-skills coach. Re-released in a revised and updated edition, it is her first full-length play.

Toronto, Mississippi explores the dynamics of a family with an autistic daughter and absentee Elvis-impersonator father, who abandoned his family to chase his passion. Jhana, is a beautiful eighteen-year-old who lives with her mother Maddie and their boarder Bill, a sometime poet. Jhana's father, King, returns with notions of reuniting with his family and its his presence for the first time in a long time in this unusual family that really galvanizes all four of the characters into action. King is an Elvis impersonator, getting sick and tired of doing the same old song and dance. Jhana is working at her first "job" in a workshop for disabled people where she puts four screws in a bag and then another four screws in another bag and so on. In her mind she is on stage at Maple Leaf Gardens singing and strutting her stuff, just like her father does. Maddie is trying to keep it together while working full time as a teacher and as a mother, too busy to admit to her own loneliness. Bill is harbouring all sorts of feelings for Maddie that he is afraid to act on. Toronto, Mississippi examines the power of hope over despair when people focus on what they have lost in life versus what they have not yet discovered and is a reminder of the value of resilience, responsibility and tolerance. Jhana, despite limitations, constantly seeks to reach out and grasp all she can from life. Ironically, it is the adults in Jhana's life who hold her back. She's good company – funny, driven, passionate and yearning for the same things those around her yearn for – if they can get over their preconceptions and give her the space to achieve her dreams.

Toronto, Mississippi premiered in 1987 at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto. Since then the play has been produced widely at professional and community theatres across North America.

Cast: 2 female, 2 male

What people say:

"MacLeod used her own experiences as a social worker to shape her writing in Toronto, Mississippi, a play exploring the realities of mental disability, family dynamics and the creative capacity of an Elvis impersonator. MacLeod, however, invokes a tender, more lyrical voice to expose the complexities of people's lives and the determination to transform them in the face of adversity. With 11 plays and numerous awards to her credit, MacLeod has created a small universe of wonderful, fascinating characters with whom you can empathize, people you'd feel lucky to share a dinner table with." — The Book of Lists

"See this play and fall in love." — Georgia Straight

"Joan MacLeod's writing is strong and travels single-mindedly in its chosen direction, like an eccentric in the park who grabs you by the arm and takes you on a journey you hadn't planned." — Globe & Mail

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.