Mom Violet works at a downtown diner; dad Winston struggles to keep his job in the kill room of a slaughterhouse; son Toby fixes cars and dreams of owning his own garage, and daughter Emma, still in high school, dreams of becoming a doctor. But when forbidden love crashes up against reality, everyone’s options are limited by what they have inherited, and by what they can, and cannot, choose to give up. Sometimes a life changes in a moment, and sometimes it never changes. Unfolding over four days and three times periods, tiny dreams ignite or die as the events of those four days unlock the family’s future — a future that plays out in the middle of the present.
About the Author
Born in Quebec, Colleen Murphy grew up in Northern Ontario. She is a two-time recipient of the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama and the Carol Bolt Award for Outstanding Play, both for Pig Girl in 2016 and The December Man / L’homme de décembre in 2007. Other published plays include Jupiter, The Society For The Destitute Presents Titus Bouffonius (winner of six Jessie Richardson Awards and three Elizabeth Sterling Awards), The Breathing Hole (shortlisted for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, U.S.), I Hope My Heart Burns First, Armstrong’s War, The Goodnight Bird, The Piper and Beating Heart Cadaver. Libretti include Fantasma, with composer Ian Cusson, and Oksana G., with composer Aaron Gervais. Colleen is also an award-winning filmmaker. She has been a playwright-in-residence at Finborough Theatre in London UK, and Necessary Angel Theatre in Toronto, and has been a writer-in-residence at seven Canadian universities. Colleen lives in Toronto. She is a Member of the Order of Canada.