Grad Readings
Each program features a staged reading of a full-length play (up to ninety minutes in length each). These plays were written by graduating or graduated students from the UBC Creative Writing program. Hear their words brought to life to see how their hard work has paid off!
BZOU, by Andrey Summers
BZOU! is a full length stage-play that examines how Tourette Syndrome and its comorbidities are passed down from generation to generation, and how societies and communities throughout history have treated its sufferers. It interlaces three New Years’ Eve stories across 17th Century France, Soviet Russia and 1990’s Scarborough, Ontario - each following a different character afflicted with T.S.
The stories are linked by theme and parallel performance in the staging, in order to foreground and contrast the unique challenges neuroatypical people have faced and continue to face as their societies and peers other them.
Bio: Andrey Summers graduated from UBC in 2019 with an MFA in Creative Writing. His play A Snowflake on the Tongue of Oberon won the Sydney Arts Guide’s Best Fringe Comedy award in 2015 and he did not find out about this for a year. He and his wife Fiona Revill also started the production company Red Square Collective that year, which is currently in post on its first feature film We Three. He co-hosts the monthly podcast Satan’s Lawyer with Ivan Decker, and writes for The Beaverton under the pseudonym "Andrey Summers.”
A Splendid, Savage Place, by Liesl Lafferty
A Splendid, Savage Place is a comedy about Hannah, a successful news anchor, who wants to climb her career ladder. Unfortunately, her co-anchor is an nightmare and one day, she punches him on-air. When she returns to her hometown for a short reprieve, Hannah's feisty, yet ailing grandmother announces her desire for an assisted death. Hannah's mother, Elaine, is staunchly against it and the conflict begins. Simultaneously, three suitors sniff around vying for Hannah’s attention, and she questions her own life choices.
Bio: Liesl Lafferty recently graduated from UBC with an MFA in Creative Writing and Theatre. She practices Conflict Theatre@UBC, produces the Brave New Play Rites Festival and facilitates playwrights with Realwheels Theatre and Wet Ink Collective. Liesl is a Jessie award-winning director, playwright, and dramaturg, focusing mainly on creating new works.