Drama. Karen Hines

casual on the men (i.e., no ties – Noah wears a bolo, the Sage a flowing scarf). The juxtaposition between the recognizable looks and the sometimes extreme nature of the world keeps the comedy ship tight (in our experience, anything too ‘crazy’ or clownish on the actors tips the hand and diminishes the impact of the performances and the text). April has created a wardrobe for our cast that is stylish, elegant, flattering and, in its smoky monochrome, delectably grounds the prime red set pieces and the white of the bones. Even the stage management team are coiffed and look like they just stepped out of a Sin City strip.

      Sound

      Richard McDowell has created a spare but potent sound score that evokes urban, noir, western and Rocky Mountain wilderness all at once. It exists largely between the scenes, escorting the characters from place to place while also offering the audience a moment of deeper reflection under his cover. He has combined the theme from The Beverly Hillbillies by Earl Scruggs with ‘The Opening Number’ by the Northern Cree Singers and laced it all through with drum and bass. Animals feature prominently and we hear everything from a howling wolf to a barking labradoodle to elk moos. There is an ‘approaching’ grizzly bear. The brief tracks have momentum and infectious rhythms and are usually scary. The dream world is alive in them.

      Tone and Style

      Blake Brooker describes the performance style as ‘artificial realism’: the situations are artificial, the feeling is real.

      Drama: Pilot Episode is a drama. It is also a satire, whose tone is never one of ridicule. It is highly theatrical but borrows style from television. It is meant to be restrained in its delivery. That said, it is highly melodramatic at times. As I was writing the play, I drew on graphic novels and neo-noir as stylistic templates. Noir’s emphasis on psychology offered an attractive intellectual ballast for a story that could run up on the potentially soft shoulder of soulfulness, or dismiss itself through its comedy and occasional absurdism. And while one might describe the play as parodying certain gritty television shows (Damages, anything CSI, The Unit), it never veers into spoof – and certainly never into classic film noir Bogey-isms or forties Manhattan dialects. Drama is not meant to mock television; rather, the play uses television genres in an investigation of TV’s effect on the human soul – and theatre itself is not spared in the inquiry.

      Drama: Pilot Episode is a trans-genre piece. That is, it is itself. Performance benefits from a light touch … until, as Mr. Brooker would say, ‘You have to go there.’ All characters, in the end, are fighting for salvation, simple as that. That said, as in the classic films noir, any catharsis should only momentarily pierce the sheen of anxious cool.

      Cast of Characters

      The Sage: A renegade frontier psychiatrist. Ageless – but perhaps circling sixty.

      Fyg: A fifteen-year-old girl. A spirit.

      Dr. Penelope Douglas, M.D., Ph.D.: Thirty-five. An ex-forensic psychiatrist who has fled her government post at the Toronto morgue to counsel the living in an oil town.

      Columbia: Thirty-five. Penelope’s oldest friend. An Oil Wife.

      Noah: Perhaps thirty-three. A young Content Provider in the television industry. Then, a ghost.

      Deedee: A Decision Maker in the television industry. Forty, give or take. Never without her small baby.

      Lily: Twenty-nine. An Actress in the television industry.

      Concierge: Played by the actor playing Fyg.

      A Delivery Man: Played by the actor playing Noah.

      Petra: An oil wife, played by the actor playing Deedee.

      Realtor: Played by the actor playing Lily.

      Waiter: Played by the actor playing Noah.

      Thai Masseuse: Played by the actor playing Fyg.

      Production History

      As this book goes to print, Drama: Pilot Episode has played to two preview audiences, but has not yet opened; therefore, this ‘history’ exists in present and future tense. The play opens February 10, 2012.

      The world premiere of Drama: Pilot Episode is being presented as part of the Enbridge playRites Festival of New Canadian Plays 2012 produced by Alberta Theatre Projects, with special support from Mr. Hugh McGillivray.

      The cast is as follows:

      Deedee: Lindsay Burns

      Columbia: Mabelle Carvajal

      Noah: Christian Goutsis

      Lily: Alana Hawley

      The Sage: Allan Morgan

      Fyg: Amy Sawka

      Dr. Penelope Douglas: Daniela Vlaskalic

      Direction is by Blake Brooker

      Dramaturgy is by Vicki Stroich

      Set Design is by Scott Reid

      Costumes are by April Viczko

      Lighting Design is by David Fraser

      Sound Design is by Richard McDowell.

      Production Stage Manager: Johanne Deleeuw

      Assistant Stage Manager: Patti Neice

      University of Calgary Intern: Kara Sturk.

      For Alberta Theatre Projects

      Artistic Associate Festival: Vicki Stroich

      Producer: Dianne Goodman

      Artistic Director: Vanessa Porteous

      The playwright acknowledges the assistance of the Banff Playwrights Colony, a partnership between the Canada Council for the Arts, The Banff Centre and Alberta Theatre Projects.

      Acknowledgements

      It is difficult to articulate the debt of gratitude I owe my inspired collaborators, director Blake Brooker and dramaturg Vicki Stroich. They recognized this play before I did, and they offered their beautiful ideas openhandedly. They saw it through with skill and patience, and helped me to be brave. The play would not have come to be without either or both of them.

      The process of bringing any new play to stage is taxing. The script of Drama went through enormous changes during its rehearsal and right up to its first performances. The cast of this production are my heroes. Their contributions have been invaluable and their grace under pressure astounding. Our stage managers have created a rare and warm atmosphere – also vigilant, they have been our treasured wingmen. The designers incited us all when we stepped from the hall to the stage; they reminded us that theatre is magic. The stagecraft has been extensive and beautifully, skilfully accomplished by the production team. The company of the inaugural production is everywhere in these pages and I can never thank them enough.

      I wrote the play largely while I was playwright in residence at Alberta Theatre Projects and might not have done so without their support and protection from the elements. May the gods of drama bless them for their continuing commitment to new work.

      Development assistance from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts has been essential.

      I am profoundly grateful to the brilliant Alana Wilcox for choosing to make this book back when it was in pieces. Her faith has been a driver.

      I acknowledge the following writers and thinkers, whose words and ideas have influenced me in the making of this play: Elisabeth Badinter, Eric Bentley, Blake Brooker, Charles Darwin, Philippe Gaulier, Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Jane Kramer, Lao Tzu, Jeannine Locke, Larissa MacFarquhar, David Mamet, Derek Parfit, Richard Pochinko, Janet Radcliffe Richards, Anne Sexton. Their bold inquiries into everything from biological destiny to the eleven o’clock song have been my signal lamps.