Scooter Productions: Graceland & Asleep on the Wind

Scooter Productions presents Graceland and Asleep on the Wind, two one-act plays by Ellen Byron.

Graceland

The place is the front entrance of Graceland, the late Elvis Presley’s Memphis mansion, the time, five o’clock in the morning, three days before the estate is to be opened to the public. Two ardent Elvis fans, Bev and Rootie, are camped out before the gates, each determined to be the first to enter the sacred precincts. Wary at first, the two soon progress from dispute to shared confidences and a growing compassion that, in the end, moves the essentially warm-hearted Bev to defer the place of honour to her waif-like and touchingly sincere rival.

Bev Davies – SUE HARRINGTON

Rootie Mallert – ANNA LEE-DIEMERT

Featuring MATT LOOP as the ‘Radio DJ.’

Asleep on the Wind     

The time is ten years before the time of Graceland, the place, a small clearing in Bayou Teche, Louisiana, the “special place” that Rootie refers to in Graceland. This is where Rootie and her favourite brother, Beau, a handsome, sensitive and restless young man of thirty come to talk in private. They have met here so that Beau can tell Rootie that he has enlisted in the army and has requested service in Vietnam. Rootie is shocked by this revelation but in the end she accepts the fact that her life, for better or worse, will never again be the same.

Rootie Dejaun – IZZY SIEBERT

Beau Dejaun – ALEX PINTER

Wednesday, November 25th, 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, November 26th, 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Friday, November 27th, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, November 28th, 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Production Team:

Director - BRIAN SPEAGLE

Stage Manager - JERMY HEWITSON

Assistant Director - TESSA DANG

Production Assistant - NEVAEH STRICKLAND

Sound and Lighting Design – STEPHEN MITCHELL

Lighting Operation – KAYLEB MITCHELL   

Makeup and Hair – NATHAN BEZENAR

Graphic Design – EMMA SEMPLE (may.day.ray.art)

Photography – ALEXIS BEDARD-CAHILL

Elvis Pillow – DANIEL MITCHELL-BENOIT

Director’s Note

These two one-act plays by Ellen Byron have been favourites of mine for many years. Ms Byron did not write many plays, most of her output has been in books, film and TV. Which is a shame, in my opinion. Her deft touch in creating these four characters for the stage is exceptional. The relationships she forms through her words are complex and compelling. I hope you appreciate our efforts. Heartfelt thanks to my family support system, Patricia Northcott and Graymalkin the Cat!

WE ACKNOWLEDGE the history of the traditional territory on which we witness this performance. We respect the longstanding relationships of the three local First Nations groups of this land and place in Southwestern Ontario; Chippewa of the Thames First Nation (part of the Anishinaabe), Oneida Nation of the Thames (part of the Haudenosuanee), and Munsee-Delaware Nation (part of the Leni-Lunaape.)

Ellen Byron is a U.S. playwright, novelist, screenwriter, and producer. As a novelist, she has written the Cajun Country Mystery series and Vintage Cookbook Mystery series. Bayou Book Thief, her first Vintage Cookbook Mystery, was nominated for an Anthony Award. As a screenwriter, she has written for Wings, Just Shoot Me!, and The Fairly Odd Parents. 

Special Thanks To:

Chris Smalley, Odesa Company; Diana Barr, PTAC;