Julius Rothstein and his granddaughter Abby have loved each other from opposite ends of Canada since Abby was born. But now, accepted as a freshman student at the university where Julius teaches, Abby is moving in with him to be close to school and to keep her newly widowed grandfather company. The two must negotiate a new relationship as housemates and friends, which means dealing with issues of youth and age, work and play, activism and apathy, homework and heart attacks, and those three tricky topics: sex, politics, and religion.

John Lazarus has been an award-winning playwright since 1970. His plays include Babel Rap, Dreaming and Duelling, The Late Blumer, Village of Idiots, and The Grandkid. John taught writing for a decade at Studio 58 and sporadically at the Vancouver Film School and National Theatre School. He lives with his wife in Kingston, Ontario, where he has been a professor at Queen’s since 2000. He intends to retire in 2020–from Queen’s, that is; as a playwright he plans to be found dead at the laptop, many years from now, working on the next one.

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"The Grandkid is a superb play; it should be an annual Christmas classic in every Jewish theatre in the country. (Feel free to substitute Hanukkah for Christmas if you wish. )"

Wayne Grady, author of Emancipation Day

"The Grandkid is undeniably charming in a Mordecai Richler sort of way. But John Lazarus is also witty and thoughtful and intelligent and he looks at the unique relationship between grandfather and granddaughter with tremendous honesty, generosity, and wry humour."

Jo Ledingham

"The Grandkid bridges the generation gap with wisdom, wit, and warmth."

Mark Leiren-Young, winner of the Leacock Medal for Humour