Successions
- Publisher
- Playwrights Canada Press
- Initial publish date
- Mar 2022
- Category
- Women Authors, Canadian
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9780369103444
- Publish Date
- Mar 2022
- List Price
- $18.95
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9780369103468
- Publish Date
- Mar 2022
- List Price
- $13.99
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Description
After the unexpected death of their parents, two second-generation Italian Canadian brothers must come together to decide whether to hold on to the family home, which is full of secrets and hoarded junk, or save what’s left of their strained relationship.
When Anthony, an uptight lawyer running for office, arrives with his former actor-turned-campaign-manager wife Cristina, they’re set on signing away the house and everything that comes with it. But Enzo, a disorganized plumber, and his pregnant girlfriend Nat have other plans. The pleasantries quickly turn to tense deliberations that unearth dramatically differing views of the group’s past experiences and present values.
This clever family dramedy takes a close look at issues that affect modern second-generation immigrant families in Canada—class differences, antiquated old-world beliefs, and a crumbling Canadian dream.
About the authors
Michaela Di Cesare is a playwright and performer with an M.A. in drama from the University of Toronto. Her solo show, 8 Ways My Mother Was Conceived was presented across Canada and in New York City. Next came In Search of Mrs. Pirandello at Centaur Theatre’s 2016 Wildside Festival, followed by the main stage world premiere of Successions in the 2017/2018 season. Extra/Beautiful/U won first place in the 2017 Write-on-Q competition presented by Infinithéâtre. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) premiered with Geordie Productions in September 2019 (Outstanding New Text Nomination, METAs 2020). Michaela was playwright-in-residence at Centaur Theatre in 2019/2020, writing Terroni or Once Upon a Time in the South. She is currently working on two new plays, Hot Blooded Foreigner for Tableau D’hôte Theatre and Oppression Remedy, the sequel to Successions.
Michaela Di Cesare's profile page
Tamara Brown is an award-winning multidisciplinary performing artist and creator based in Montreal who acts, sings, directs, and writes poetry for both the stage and screen. An occasional educator and perpetual student with a love for storytelling, natural sciences and the environment, alchemy, geekery, harmony, and social justice, Tamara is one of the founding members of Metachroma Theatre, created to address the under-representation of IBPOC artists in Quebec and Canadian theatre since 2010. In 2019, Tamara wrote Blackout for Tableau D’Hote Theatre with Lydie Dubuisson and Kym Dominique-Ferguson. Her work as a director has been seen on stages in Montreal, Toronto, Sherbrooke, Winnipeg, New York, and Stratford.
Awards
- Winner, Montreal English Theatre Award for Outstanding New Text
Excerpt: Successions (by (author) Michaela Di Cesare; foreword by Tamara Brown)
ENZO: It’s really easy for you to shit on our childhood and talk about carrying it on your back. Really? Where? I don’t see it. You were able to throw on a suit and leave us all behind.
CRISTINA: Anthony has problems too.
ANTHONY: Cristina—
CRISTINA: No. I’m tired of them always acting like you won the lottery. I don’t know everything that went down here—but Anthony clearly has some post-traumatic stress. He has nightmares and panic attacks.
ENZO: Aw poor you, Ant. That must be tough. You have bad dreams and panic attacks like a pussy.
CRISTINA: I don’t agree with trivializing panic attacks and using a pejorative word for the female anatomy to further stigmatize and gender mental illness—
ENZO: What the fuck is she even talking about? Jesus, Ant. You make your wife believe we’re such dirt. Mommy and Daddy were not the worst parents in the world. They didn’t gamble away our house or get divorced.
ANTHONY: Look around you! This was their addiction. And they should have divorced. That’s what I wanted.
CRISTINA: It wasn’t your decision to make.
ENZO: Stepparents suck, Ant. We would have been molested. Locked in closets and shit.
ANTHONY: Or maybe we’d still have all the money Dad spent as penance for his sins.
ENZO: We were poor. You don’t get to be angry just because we were poor.
ANTHONY: We shouldn’t have been. That’s the point!
ENZO: Nonno got sick. Daddy had to close the business and start working for other companies. They had bad luck.
ANTHONY: There is no such thing as bad luck! Not here. Not in Canada. You make your own luck.
Editorial Reviews
“Absolutely fearless… The choices of two first-generation Italian brothers regarding their lives and their relationships gives a sketch of the treacherous reality so many Canadians must navigate.”
Anna Fuerstenberg, Montreal Rampage
“As new anglo playwriting in Montreal goes, I’d venture to say that nothing has succeeded quite like Successions for some time.”
Jim Burke, Montreal Gazette
