The Unknown Country:
Plays by rising Canadian writers take New York
Robert Chafe's Oil and Water, Directed by Passion
Lucian Frangione's Leave of Absence and Aaron Bushkowsky's After Jerusalem
featured in latest Unknown Country showcase at
The Workshop Theater Company
"We were not in Newfoundland, the setting of Oil and Water by acclaimed
St. John’s playwright Robert Chafe. We were in the Jewel Box Theatre, a small
room on the fourth floor of an off-off-Broadway building in Manhattan. On the
coldest and snowiest week of the young new year in New York, the tiny house was
full. Of Canada.
Oil and Water was the second play in the run. It’s the true story of
two African-American U.S. naval cadets whose vessel, the U.S.S. Truxtun, hit a
glacier in 1942 off the coast of Newfoundland, killing more than 200.
"And as the Newf accents rang out in Oil and Water, you were reminded
of the particularly Canadian moral accent in the plays: the primacy of tolerance
toward The Other."
The crowd applauded with genuine admiration, then filed into the tiny lobby
for a cosy wine and cheese reception, mingling with the cast and staff.
Fizzard and Roncetti popped the corks and New York felt warmer than usual for January.
See the full thestar.com STAGE article by Mark Lepage here.
Plays by rising Canadian writers take New York
Robert Chafe's Oil and Water, Directed by Passion
Lucian Frangione's Leave of Absence and Aaron Bushkowsky's After Jerusalem
featured in latest Unknown Country showcase at
The Workshop Theater Company
"We were not in Newfoundland, the setting of Oil and Water by acclaimed
St. John’s playwright Robert Chafe. We were in the Jewel Box Theatre, a small
room on the fourth floor of an off-off-Broadway building in Manhattan. On the
coldest and snowiest week of the young new year in New York, the tiny house was
full. Of Canada.
Oil and Water was the second play in the run. It’s the true story of
two African-American U.S. naval cadets whose vessel, the U.S.S. Truxtun, hit a
glacier in 1942 off the coast of Newfoundland, killing more than 200.
"And as the Newf accents rang out in Oil and Water, you were reminded
of the particularly Canadian moral accent in the plays: the primacy of tolerance
toward The Other."
The crowd applauded with genuine admiration, then filed into the tiny lobby
for a cosy wine and cheese reception, mingling with the cast and staff.
Fizzard and Roncetti popped the corks and New York felt warmer than usual for January.
See the full thestar.com STAGE article by Mark Lepage here.
