Set in a rural Black Nova Scotian community, The Bridge explores the complex relationship between two brothers strained over twenty years of secrecy, deception, and dishonour. Secrets are revealed one by one from the brothers themselves, as well as a trio of community gossips who provide the musical backdrop for this gospel-infused tale. A story of a family torn apart by betrayal, The Bridge invites us to consider the roads we choose in life, and to wonder whether we can ever cross back over the bridges we burn along the way.

Shauntay Grant is a poet, playwright, interdisciplinary artist, and children’s author who lives and works in Kjipuktuk, Mi’kma’ki (Halifax, Nova Scotia). A former poet laureate for the City of Halifax, she “creates artworks that are engaging and accessible, but also challenging, rigorous, and informed by deep research” (Royal Society of Canada). Her play The Bridge (Playwrights Canada Press) premiered at Neptune Theatre’s Fountain Hall, a co-production between 2b theatre company and Neptune in association with Obsidian Theatre Company. Set in a rural Black Nova Scotian community, this multilayered story of a family torn apart by betrayal received eleven Robert Merritt Award nominations, winning four, including for Outstanding New Play by a Nova Scotian. Grant’s first stage play Steal Away Home won the Jury Award for Outstanding Drama at the Atlantic Fringe Festival. Her other plays include KK (Boca Del Lupo, Red Phone project), Passing (Eastern Front Theatre, Micro Digitals project), and the ten-minute monodrama Beyere (Obsidian Theatre Company, 21 Black Futures project). An associate professor of creative writing at Dalhousie University, Grant holds professional degrees in creative writing, music, and journalism. Her theatrical work for young audiences has toured with Neptune Theatre’s Tour Company, and she has been commissioned by Against the Grain Theatre to write the text/poetry for Identity: A Song Cycle. She is the editor of the anthology From the Ashes: Six Solo Plays (Playwrights Canada Press) which collects groundbreaking solo plays by Black Canadian women and womxn. Her first solo stage play is in development with 2b theatre company. Grant is the author of several books for children including My Fade Is Fresh (Penguin), When I Wrap My Hair (HarperCollins), and Africville (Groundwood), which won a Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award and was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award. Her other honours include an Established Artist Recognition Award from Arts Nova Scotia, a Poet of Honour prize from Spoken Word Canada, a Joseph S. Stauffer prize from the Canada Council for the Arts, and Arts Nova Scotia’s inaugural Black Artist Recognition Award.

Shauntay Grant's profile page

• Winner, Robert Merritt Award for Outstanding New Play by a Nova Scotian

“The Bridge succeeds because it appeals to all the wonderful and inescapable facets of the human condition. For all of the trespasses, tests, and tribulations thrown our way, it is ultimately our decision of how we choose to react and respond.”

Carey Bray, Halifax Bloggers

“Innovative and riveting . . . a brilliant dramatic text, incorporating song, naturalistic and unique dialect, thorough knowledge of the Bible, which is a key theme in the play, and a rare theatrical playfulness.”

Judith Thompson, award-winning playwright of The Crackwalker and Lion in the Streets

“Formally inventive—a choreo-poem, layered in the biblical and the vernacular; in simultaneity and multiplicity.”

Dionne Brand, award-winning poet and novelist, author of The Blue Clerk and Theory

“The Bridge already feels like it should be a classic of the Canadian theatre canon . . . The intricate way this story is woven is unique and artful, and its layers create a resonant and powerfully emotional experience.”

Amanda "Equality" Campbell, TWISI: The Way I See It Theatre Blog