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Colleen Murphy

COLLEEN MURPHY

  (1954 - )
Nationality:    Canadian
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    Kensington Literary Representation  represented by Michael Petrasek

Playwright Colleen Murphy was born in Quebec and grew up in Northern Ontario. Her plays include the December Man (L'homme de decembre), won the 2007 Governor General's Literary Award for Drama, the CAA/Carol Bolt Award for Drama and the 2006 Enbridge playRites Award. the play premiered in February 2007 at Alberta Theatre Projects as part of their Festival of New Canadian Plays. It has also been seen at the Citadel, Edmonton, and at the Canadian Stage Company, Toronto, and translated into French and German; Beating Heart Cadaver (nominated for a 1999 Governor General's Literary Award); the Piper, Down in Adoration Falling and All Other Destinations are Cancelled. In 2008, Murphy was shortlisted for the Siminovitch Prize in Theatre. She is currently working on Deliver Me (National Arts Centre), Armstrong's War (Banff Centre) and the Birthday Boy (Shaw Festival). She has twice won awards in the CBC Literary Competition. Colleen's distinct, award-winning films have played in festivals around the world and include Out in the Cold, Girl with Dog, War Holes, Desire, Shoemaker, the Feeler and Putty Worm. Two of her plays have been seen as staged readings at the Finborough Theatre  the December Man (L'homme de decembre) in the first Vibrant  A Festival of Finborough Playwrights in 2009, and Beating Heart Cadaver in 2010's Vibrant  An Anniversary Festival of Finborough Playwrights.

Research:    Member of the Dramatists Guild of America (as at 2015)

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below is a list of Colleen Murphy's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         All Other Destinations are Cancelled         Armstrong's War         Beating Heart Cadaver         Breathing Hole, The         Bright Burning         December Man, The ((L'homme de decembre) )         Down In Adoration Falling         Goodnight Bird, The         Pig Girl         Piper, The         Titus Bouffonius
All Other Destinations are Cancelled

Synopsis:
A young woman who dreams of escaping a small town in Northern Ontario is given the chance to leave one night when her terminally ill mother shows up at the bus station drunk. . .but the woman's brother and his wife will have none of it, and a family who is already broken breaks down completely.

Notes:
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If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Armstrong's War

Armstrong's War
Armstrong's War is the tale of a twenty one year-old Canadian soldier who has been wounded in Afghanistan. As the young soldier recovers in hospital, feisty Halley Armstrong - a twelve year-old girl guide eager to earn every possible badge - announces that she has volunteered to read for him. Despite initial misgivings, a relationship develops between this most unlikely of couples who find that they have something in common beyond storytelling. . .

Notes:
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1st Produced:

Organisations:
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1st Published:
Playwrights Canada Press 2014   

Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Beating Heart Cadaver

Synopsis:
Leona and Danny's young daughter, Amelia, is killed in a car crash. Paralyzed in the accident, Danny is spurned by Leona's accusations as she clings helplessly to a balloon containing Amelia's breath. Enter Lola, a pathological grief councilor. Daring and unsentimental, Beating Heart Cadaver travels though dark emotional territory, unearthing humor and forgiveness as Danny and Leona fight, trying to make sense of their tragedy as they struggle back to each other, and to life.

Notes:
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1st Produced:

Organisations:
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1st Published:
Playwrights Canada Press, 1999   

Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Breathing Hole, The

Breathing Hole, The
A polar bear wanders through centuries of Canadian history. From an Inuit community in 16th century to the doomed Franklin Expedition and on to present day cruise ship cruising the North West Passage

Notes:
translation by Janet Tamalik McGrath

1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
Playwrights Canada Press 2020   

Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Bright Burning

Synopsis:
Desperate for money for drugs a group of teenagers break into a grand old house

Notes:
Also known as "I Hope My Heart Burns First"

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Black comedy

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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December Man, The ((L'homme de decembre) )

December Man, The ((L'homme de decembre) )
A public tragedy shatters a working class family in Montreal. Struggling to survive the aftermath, Benoît and Kathleen do everything they can to help their beloved son Jean cope with guilt and rage. . .but will it be enough? This searing Drama on courage, heroism, and despair explores the long public shadow that private family violence casts.

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1st Published:
Playwrights Canada Press, 2007   

Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Down In Adoration Falling

Synopsis:
While overhearing his parents make love, 12 year old Nicolas thinks he sees a bat lying on the skylight in his room. His Father tells him it is only a shadow but when Nicolas falls asleep a figure steps in through the skylight. . .and Nicolas slips into a dream. He dreams that his Father dies in car accident, his grief-stricken mother turns to religion and that he, Nicolas, becomes the object of a lonely priest's misplaced love. Nicolas ages three years as he roams through the crowded landscape of his own nightmare, a landscape increasingly dominated by a desperate Father Duvalier who is being eaten alive by his own doubt. Hilarious, outrageous, and emotional.

Notes:
8 Actors play 19 parts.

1st Produced:
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1st Published:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Goodnight Bird, The

Goodnight Bird, The
Lilly and Morgan Beaumont are comfortable in their familiar routine until Parker, a homeless man, lands on the balcony of their new condo. After scaring the older couple half to death, he pours himself into the holes of their relationship, agitating them with talk of sex - talk that drives Lilly out into the night with Parker, and sends Morgan on the road to another heart attack. A dark comedy about old love and new courage.

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1st Published:
Playwrights Canada Press 2013   

Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Pig Girl

Pig Girl
At 4:00 a.m. on a secluded Canadian pig farm, a girl tries to yank her life back from a serial killer as the girl's desperate sister and a haunted Police Officer reach across time and distance in a vain attempt to rescue her. Inspired by a true story.

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1st Produced:

Organisations:
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1st Published:
Playwrights Canada Press 2015   

Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Piper, The

Synopsis:
Rats take many forms in the corporate democracy of Hameln where an orchestrated chaos reigns and ghosts of dead children mingle with the living. Ruled by the tyrannical Mayor Poppenheimer, the greedy Town Council holds him hostage with threats of immediate strikes while selling off essential services so that they can buy more casinos. A gang of Rats, led by Kingsley - who reads Nietzsche and longs to be human - bristle at being forced to do naughty jobs in exchange for leftovers. Enter the Piper, a meek musician whose silent flute plays on the deepest desires of all who hear it. He literally collides with the Mayor's daughter and they fall instantly in love. But when the body of the son of the Deputy Mayor is fished out of the river, moral outrage erupts, Kingsley is publicly tortured, and the Town Council declares war on the Rats. In the midst of the battle, the Piper plays and the Rats self-destruct, but the narcissistic adults refuse to pay&and the children of Hameln disappear, leaving nothing behind but ghosts. Beneath this boisterous comic-tragedy loosely based on the legend of the Pied Piper of Hameln, (but influenced by politics and Nietzsche), lies an astute meditation on the selfishness of modern society and the anguish of children clinging to the notion of unconditional love. A remarkably intelligent and hilarious re-telling, using vaudeville and slap-stick as stylistic launching pads, the Piper is not for a young audience, but for the adults who inexcUSAbly betray children in pursuit of their own desires and concerns.

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1st Published:
Playwrights Canada Press, 2003   

Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play with Music

Parts:
Male:  13            Female:  9            Other:  This play also includes a chorus so the large cast is excellent for university productions.

Further Reference:
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Titus Bouffonius

Synopsis:
Blood, body parts, evil clowns. "The worst revenge is the best revenge"

Notes:
Based on "Titus Andronicus" by William Shakespeare

1st Produced:
Theatre Network, Edmonton     30 Jan 2014

Organisations:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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