GCTC MAINSTAGE SERIES

Better Living
by George F. Walker (1986)
Directed by Patrick MacDonald

Think your family's got problems? Meet Nora Quinn and her daughters, living on the edge in the east end of the city. One day, the man who may or may not be the father who disappeared ten years ago suddenly shows up. Will they welcome him back into the fold or just try to kill him? Has he returned to build them a refuge against the crazy world out there or to kill them first? All anyone says they're trying to do is make a better life for themselves! A GCTC founder returns to direct Walker's 1986 comic masterpiece of family mayhem as our thirtieth season opener.

1987 Chalmers Canadian Play Award Winner

"A master of the absurd, Walker hits a nerve close to home with his vision of our insane, out-of-control, disconnected world". - Washington Times

Previews September 14 and 15, Opens September 16, closes October 3 (Tuesday to Friday at 8:00, Saturday at 4:00 and 8:30, Sunday at 2:00 pm - 1st Sunday PWYC)

The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia?
by Edward Albee (2002)
Directed by Lorne Pardy

CANADIAN PREMIERE! What drives someone who 'has it all' to throw it all away? Martin, at 50, has the perfect marriage, family and career. Or so it seems, until his best friend reveals Martin's darkest secret and a wickedly funny send-up of the standard mid-life crisis spirals into the vortex of Greek tragedy. Four decades after Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Albee has again sent Broadway audiences out of the theatre arguing furiously about the irrational nature of love. Just the thing for GCTC to bring as its "international contemporary hit".

Winner of the 2002 Tony Award for Best Play

Previews October 26 and 27, Opens October 28, closes November 14 (Tuesday to Friday at 8:00, Saturday at 4:00 and 8:30, Sunday at 2:00 pm - 1st Sunday PWYC)

Mourning Dove
by Emil Sher (2004)
Directed by Lorne Pardy

WORLD PREMIERE! Could killing your own child be an act of love? Inspired by the true Canadian story of a Saskatchewan farmer and his daughter, Emil Sher's new play explores the dilemma faced by the father of a severely disabled teenage girl, whose fate is about to be taken over by the medical establishment. Can their best efforts ever relieve her constant pain? Or should her father pursue another, final alternative? So who gets to play God? GCTC premieres a stunning theatrical piece in which assuming a loved one's best interests leads to an entire family's loss.

Previews February 15 and 16, Opens February 17, closes March 6 (Tuesday to Friday at 8:00, Saturday at 4:00 and 8:30, Sunday at 2:00 pm - 1st Sunday PWYC)

Girl in the Goldfish Bowl
by Morris Panych (2002)
Directed by John Koensgen

Is the end of the world just something that happens inside your head? October, 1962: American warships are steaming towards Havana, but for eleven-year-old Iris, living in a country where nothing happens, in a town where nothing happens (on Canada's west coast), the death of her goldfish and the arrival of a mysterious stranger on the beach occupy much more importance in her efforts to hold her depressive family together. Panych's extraordinary play, whimsical, farcical and touching, comes to GCTC following smash-hit productions in Toronto and Vancouver.

Winner of the 2003 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play

Previews March 22 and 23, Opens March 24, closes April 10 (Tuesday to Friday at 8:00, Saturday at 4:00 and 8:30, Sunday at 2:00 pm - 1st Sunday PWYC)

The Last Liberal
by Dave Carley (2005)
Directed by Charles McFarland

WORLD PREMIERE! Do small-'l' Liberals exist any more? If you're Ron Bloom, provincial Minister of Education and rising star, that depends on who you're listening to - your executive assistant tugging hard to the left, or your wife, who's seeking a program for your delinquent teenage son that just might compromise your public principles. No wonder Ron's looking longingly at a federal seat, Ottawa and 'a rest'! Commissioned by GCTC and developed in our new play program, Dave Carley's new comedy offers an up-to-the-minute debate about how far right the 'centre' may be headed.

Previews April 26 and 27, Opens April 28, closes May 15 (Tuesday to Friday at 8:00, Saturday at 4:00 and 8:30, Sunday at 2:00 pm - 1st Sunday PWYC)

Rock and Roll
Book, Music and Lyrics by John Gray (1981)
Directed by Michael Shamata

How do the songs of your youth sound when you play them again? "Ladies and gentlemen, it's Friday night in Mushaboom Nova Scotia and the Monarchs are back!" Fifteen years on, former members of the hottest rock and roll band in the East reunite for one last concert, reliving their hopes and dreams for what they wanted to be - and facing the reality of who they've become. How to reconcile the two? Take the advice of Screamin' John McGee (or at least his ghost, because he didn't make it past his teens): "When the situation's out of control/ You'd better rock/ You'd better roll!" as we wrap up GCTC's 30th season in high-energy sound.

"Script and lyrics are alternately full of wisecracks and insights ? the songs are smart and sassy" - Variety

Previews May 31, June 1, Opens June 2, closes June 19 (Tuesday to Friday at 8:00, Saturday at 4:00 and 8:30, Sunday at 2:00 pm - 1st Sunday PWYC)