Proud
5/5
()
About this ebook
Michael Healey
Michael Healey trained as an actor at Toronto’s Ryerson Theatre School in the mid-eighties. He began writing for the stage in the early nineties and his first play, a solo one-act called Kicked, was produced at the Fringe of Toronto Festival in 1996. He subsequently toured the play across Canada and internationally, winning the Dora Mavor Moore Award for best new play. The Drawer Boy, his first full-length play, premiered in Toronto in 1999, winning the Dora Award for best new play, the Chalmers Canadian Playwriting Award, and the Governor General’s Literary Award (Canada’s highest literary honour). It has been translated into multiple languages and continues to be produced regularly across North America and internationally. Healey’s other works include The Road to Hell (co-authored with Kate Lynch), Plan B, Rune Arlidge, The Innocent Eye Test, The Nuttalls, Are You Okay, and 1979. His trilogy focusing on Canadian values and politics—Generous, Courageous, and Proud—met with great critical success and have had multiple productions. In all, his plays have won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for best new play five times. He has also adapted works by Chekhov, Molnar, Hecht and MacArthur, Dürrenmatt, and Shaw for the Stratford Festival, the Shaw Festival, and Soulpepper. He continues to find work as an actor occasionally.
Read more from Michael Healey
Generous Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Drawer Boy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51979 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Master Plan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRune Arlidge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Proud
Related ebooks
Between Breaths Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnder Wraps Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsElectric Rosary (NHB Modern Plays) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSt. Francis of Millbrook Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFive @ Fifty Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sextet Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gordon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Vitals Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOregano Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrue Love Lies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBox Clever (NHB Modern Plays) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTiger Country (NHB Modern Plays) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Goodnight Bird Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeparate Beds Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsI Am For You Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPennyroyal (NHB Modern Plays) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hours That Remain Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Kill Me Now Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5SAUCE & ALL HONEY (NHB Modern Plays) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWillow Quartet Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLosing It: A Play about Coming Together and Falling Apart Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsbittergirl Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThat Summer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWatching Glory Die Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhen They Go Low (NHB Modern Plays) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThis Wide Night (NHB Modern Plays) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMarriage: A Demolition in Two Acts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsI Fucked You in My Spaceship (NHB Modern Plays) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnscorched (NHB Modern Plays) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Josephine Knot Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Performing Arts For You
As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Measure: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Robin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Town: A Play in Three Acts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yes Please Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Macbeth (new classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bell Jar: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Romeo and Juliet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lucky Dog Lessons: Train Your Dog in 7 Days Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Coreyography: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Me: An Oprah's Book Club Pick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wuthering Heights Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5For colored girls who have considered suicide/When the rainbow is enuf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boy Swallows Universe: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sisters Brothers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mash: A Novel About Three Army Doctors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hamlet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diamond Eye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Sherlock Holmes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Count Of Monte Cristo (Unabridged) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Importance of Being Earnest: A Play Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Midsummer Night's Dream, with line numbers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes: Revised and Complete Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Proud
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
Proud - Michael Healey
PROUD
BY MICHAEL HEALEY
PLAYWRIGHTS CANADA PRESS
TORONTO
Also by Michael Healey:
Kicked
The Drawer Boy
Plan B
Rune Arlidge
The Innocent Eye Test
Generous
Courageous
The Nuttalls
with Kate Lynch:
The Road to Hell
Contents
Title Page
also by Michael Healey
Dedication
Production Information
Characters
Proud
Scene 1.
Scene 2.
Scene 3.
Scene 3a.
Scene 4.
Scene 5.
Scene 5a.
Scene 6.
Scene 6a.
Scene 7.
Scene 8.
About the Author
Copyright
For Morwyn Brebner
Proud was commissioned by Tarragon Theatre and first produced by Sue Edworthy and Proud Productions at the Berkeley Street Theatre Upstairs. It opened on September 22, 2012, with the following company:
The Prime Minister: Michael Healey
Jisbella Lyth: Maev Beaty
Cary Baines: Tom Barnett
Jake: Jeff Lillico
Director: Miles Potter
Set and costume designer: Gillian Gallow
Lighting designer: Kimberly Purtell
Sound designer: Lyon Smith
Stage manager: Arwen MacDonell
CHARACTERS
The Prime Minister
Jisbella Lyth
Cary Baines
Jake Lyth
The following is projected somewhere as the audience enters:
Although much of our life is rooted in the anxiety of time, in other words the fear of death, the continuity of knowledge and wisdom that has brought us here together is rooted in love, a love that is not only as strong as death, but able to cast out its fear.
—Northrop Frye
The above fades. The house light goes down and the following is projected somewhere:
This play begins shortly after the 2011 Canadian federal election. It deviates from reality in several ways, including this way: instead of the NDP winning fifty-nine seats in Quebec, those seats have gone to the Conservatives.
The above fades and is replaced by the following:
Question: Do you love this country?
Well… I think the country has unlimited potential.
—The Right Honourable Stephen Harper
Scene 1.
The PRIME MINISTER walks on stage. There is applause. He waits.
He smiles, genuinely, but without warmth. The applause dies.
PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon. Thank you. I am moved, and humbled, to see you all here today.
More applause. He waits.
(not unkindly) Please don’t do that. Not that this isn’t celebratory, this occasion, it is, after all, we had to move this meeting from our normal caucus venue to this much larger room to accommodate… all of you. And it’s exciting, to be here, all together, and yes, our victory was historic, and I understand why there’s a buzz in the room. A tingle. But applause is for campaigns, and, thanks be to the Canadian voter, we won’t have to go through another one of them for four years.
Scattered, confused applause at this, which dies on the vine. He waits.
There’s a time for that sort of thing. But now we must engage with the facts, and they are these: after successive minority governments, we have won our majority. And not just any majority, but the second-largest majority in the history of this country. We have won seats in parts of the country where, heretofore, conservative voices have been silent. Our win is nothing short of historic, as you’ve been reading and hearing. We have done this historic thing, however, with the smallest possible percentage of the popular vote. Analyzed correctly, we see that our support is broad, but it is thin. If our support was an iced-over pond, I couldn’t in good conscience recommend we play shinny on it. And beneath that thin layer of support it is murky, and cold, and unforgiving. We fall into the frigid water of that pond, and not only might we die, but, more importantly, the hard work we have to do will be put on hold while we try to haul ourselves out, which is time-consuming, exhausting, and uncertain.
And yet, the mandate we have been given is one of change. We have been entrusted with the task of reforming our government, our finances, and our place in the world along principles we articulated clearly in the campaign, and which Canadians have seen fit to embrace. Change does not come easily in this country, however. Her Majesty’s loyal opposition, though it’s in disarray, will resist the change we seek at every turn. And often the press will be their willing ally in that resistance.
Those are the facts. And so, given the enormous task ahead and the myriad ways we will be challenged, how can we insure we do the maximum amount possible, as efficiently as possible, while encountering the least resistance possible?
He waits.
You will, each of you, get pulled a lot of ways now that you’re