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This fifth edition of the classic Modern Canadian Plays sets out an even broader range of plays than previous editions. The plays in the first volume date from 1967 to 1991, and outline an indigenous Canadian drama emerging from its colonial roots to celebrate a rising nationalism. But more to the point, the plays in this edition carry with them a distinct flavour of adventurousness in a juxtaposition that is strikingly, even wildly, various-plays that can only be said to cohere around the difficulty of amorphous notions such as social justice, cultural belonging and the existence of a collective past. Modern Canadian Plays continues to stand as the standard anthology for Canadian drama-for good reason.
The plays in Volume One include:
The Ecstasy of Rita Joe, George Ryga (1967)
Les Belles Soeurs, Michel Tremblay (1968)
Leaving Home, David French (1972)
Sticks and Stones (The Donnellys, Part One), James Reaney (1973)
Zastrozzi, George F. Walker (1977)
Billy Bishop Goes to War, John Gray with Eric Peterson (1978)
Balconville, David Fennario (1979)
Blood Relations, Sharon Pollock (1980)
Drag Queens on Trial, Sky Gilbert (1985)
Bordertown Cafe, Kelly Rebar (1987)
Toronto, Mississippi, Joan MacLeod (1987)
Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), Ann-Marie MacDonald (1988)
Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, Tomson Highway (1989)
Lion in the Streets, Judith Thompson (1990)
Life Without Instruction, Sally Clark (1991)
This fifth edition of the classic Modern Canadian Plays sets out an even broader range of plays than previous editions. The plays in the first volume date from 1967 to 1991, and outline an indigenous Canadian drama emerging from its colonial roots to celebrate a rising nationalism. But more to the point, the plays in this edition carry with them a distinct flavour of adventurousness in a juxtaposition that is strikingly, even wildly, various-plays that can only be said to cohere around the difficulty of amorphous notions such as social justice, cultural belonging and the existence of a collective past. Modern Canadian Plays continues to stand as the standard anthology for Canadian drama-for good reason.
The plays in Volume One include:
The Ecstasy of Rita Joe, George Ryga (1967)
Les Belles Soeurs, Michel Tremblay (1968)
Leaving Home, David French (1972)
Sticks and Stones (The Donnellys, Part One), James Reaney (1973)
Zastrozzi, George F. Walker (1977)
Billy Bishop Goes to War, John Gray with Eric Peterson (1978)
Balconville, David Fennario (1979)
Blood Relations, Sharon Pollock (1980)
Drag Queens on Trial, Sky Gilbert (1985)
Bordertown Cafe, Kelly Rebar (1987)
Toronto, Mississippi, Joan MacLeod (1987)
Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), Ann-Marie MacDonald (1988)
Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, Tomson Highway (1989)
Lion in the Streets, Judith Thompson (1990)
Life Without Instruction, Sally Clark (1991)
Preface Introduction by Jerry Wasserman Polygraph (1988) by Robert Lepage and Marie Brassard 7 Stories (1989) by Morris Panych Never Swim Alone (1991) by Daniel MacIvor The Glace Bay Miners' Museum (1995) by Wendy Lill Counter Offence (1996) by Rahul Varma Problem Child (1997) by George Walker Harlem Duet (1997) by Djanet Sears Street of Blood (1998) by Ronnie Burkett The Shape of a Girl (2001) by Joan MacLeod Tempting Providence (2002) by Robert Chafe Scorched (2003) by Wajdi Mouawad The Adventures of Ali & Ali and the aXes of Evil (2005) by Marcus Youssef, Guillermo Verdecchia & Camyar Chai Age of Arousal (2007) by Linda Griffiths BIOBOXES: Artifacting Human Experience (2007) by Theatre Replacement The Edward Curtis Project (2010) by Marie Clements Kim's Convenience (2011) by Ins Choi Selective Bibliography of Source Material
Volume 1 was recently made available in the US January 2013 Volume 1 will be launched at the Canadian Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences in Victoria, BC, in May 2013 Both volumes will be displayed at the Talonbooks booth at the American Theatre Association for Higher Education Annual Conference in Orlando, FL, in August 2013 Online social media campaign: LibraryThing, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Tumblr
Professor of English and theatre at the University of British Columbia, Jerry Wasserman has written and lectured widely on Canadian drama. His books include Spectacle of Empire: Marc Lescarbot's Theatre of Neptune in New France, Theatre and AutoBiography (with Sherrill Grace), and Twenty Years at Play, all published by Talonbooks. He has more than two hundred professional acting credits on stage and screen, and has reviewed more than fifteen hundred plays for CBC Radio, the Province newspaper, and his website, Vancouverplays.com. Wasserman has received the Killam Teaching Prize (1998), the Dorothy Somerset Award (2005), and the Sam Payne Award (2012), honouring a lifetime of achievement in the performing arts.
Praise for Jerry Wasserman’s Modern Canadian Plays, Fourth
Edition:
“The anthology of choice for most courses ... both Jerry Wasserman
and Talonbooks continue to expand, update, and broaden the
representational range of the standard teaching anthology in the
field. One can only look forward to the fifth edition, and all
those to follow.”
– Ric Knowles, Canadian Literature
“Unquestionably, Jerry Wasserman and Talonbooks deserve praise for
publishing an anthology that brings together in such a
reader-friendly format … the most important plays of the Canadian
dramatic repertory.”
– Andre Loiselle, Theatre Research in Canada
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