Jacob is an alcoholic reporter, his estranged cousin Isaac is a worldly photojournalist just recently returned to Canada—and their editor pairs them up to cover a story on Parliament Hill. The problems start when Jacob vomits onto the Prime Minister, an act which is mistaken for an assassination attempt. While in jail, the cousins get information which sends them on a madcap romp to try and track down what might be the story of their lives, involving a government coverup, an international fugitive and a lesbian love nest in the Northern Ontario woods.When their car breaks down, stranding them in the woods in the middle of the night, Jacob and Isaac finally face up to their painful shared past, and come to terms with what has divided them for all these years.Thunderstick has been produced in Toronto, Saskatoon, and Edmonton, where it drew standing-room-only crowds. One paper described the characters as “An aboriginal Oscar and Felix.”
“Kenneth T. Williams has created two complete, fully realized characters with deep back stories… The script alternates effortlessly between irresistible, odd-couple comedy and things more serious in the past lives of both characters… Williams has a rare gift for brutal honesty, the kind of stuff you have to laugh at or you’d cry.”—Saskatoon Star-Phoenix
Kenneth T. Williams is a Cree playwright, filmmaker and journalist from the George Gordon First Nation. His plays Café Daughter, Thunderstick (Scirocco 2010), Bannock Republic (Scirocco 2011), Suicide Notes and Three Little Birds have been professionally produced across Canada. Gordon Winter had its world premiere in Saskatoon in 2010 as the opening play for Persephone Theatre’s Deep End series. It then went on to further acclaim in May, 2012 when it was presented again at Ottawa’s Arts Court Theatre as part of the National Arts Centre’s Prairie Scene festival. Thunderstick has recently been optioned as feature film project. In 2011, Gordon Winter was nominated for a Saskatoon and Area Theatre Award for outstanding playwriting and Café Daughter won Bob Couchman Theatre Awards for outstanding production, direction and female performance in Whitehorse. He’s working on a new play, Deserters, which was presented at the 2011 Weesageechak Begins to Dance festival. He blogs about his playwriting adventures on his website feralplaywright.ca. He also teaches playwriting at the University of Saskatchewan. As well as writing plays, Kenneth has edited three series for television. He is the first Aboriginal writer to earn an M.F.A. in playwriting from the University of Alberta. He resides in Saskatoon.
