Gracie

As the play opens, Gracie is eight years old and moving with her mother, brother, and sisters from her community in the southwest United States to a community in south eastern British Columbia, Canada. Her mother has been assigned to a new husband; she becomes his eighteenth wife. Gracie may be eight when the play begins but she is fifteen when the play ends - again with a journey as Gracie leaves the community. In five acts, Gracie plays herself at five ages and also gives voice to thirteen other characters - including her brother Billy who is forced out of the community a couple of years after the family arrives in Canada. The play is a work of fiction but it is inspired by the history of polygamist communities in both Canada and the United States. When the play opened in January 2017, two days later three persons from Canada’s largest polygamist community went to trial for transporting child brides. Gracie loves her family and her faith is strong and a source of comfort to her. Although the play examines practices that are abhorrent critics have noted that a strength of the play is that it does so without judgment. Gracie provides a lens to a complex and secret world. And although it takes place in a community shut off from the outside world it also has a particular resonance for issues at the fore right now - fundamentalism and basic human and religious rights. It is also a terrific vehicle for a young actor.