Elaine Slater playwright - plays biography information

Abebooks Rare, Used Books

Synopsis:

The entire play takes place in the living room of a large house in a Canadian city. Sarah Mendelsohn has lost her entire family when they were caught trying to flee an oppressive regime. She wants to forget, but in spite of herself, when she finds that many in her family's former circle of friends are now living in exile nearby, she invites them to a dinner party as a way of reliving happier days. Hans and Maria, who worked for her parents long ago and who now work for her, are aghast. They are sure that one among the invited betrayed her family to the authorities. But Sarah feels it was the system and not an individual that caused the tragedy. The dinner party takes place on a bitter snowy winter's night. Guests have to struggle to get their cars up the steep driveway to Sarah's home but they all come for their own reasons. There are seven guests, the Cracows, Sarah's former landlord and landlady; Erich Richter, once Dean of the Law School, her father's most trusted friend; the Traubs, a couple who lived upstairs; Magda, a piano pupil of Sarah's mother; and Anton Blau, a friend of her murdered brother. During the course of the evening, the conversation takes a dangerous turn toward that night long ago, the night before the family was caught. As the guests begin to learn more about eachother than they had dreamed, they learn about themselves as well. Even Sarah is tortured by guilt - at her own survival and at her treatment of her mother. It becomes apparent that guilt is not a simple thing, that everyone is guilty to a certain extent. But if everyone is guilty, then who is guilty? Is no one guilty? Sarah, who has always wanted to forget, suddenly finds herself passionately anxious to learn the truth. But that too is elusive. The evening ends and the guests leave the house shaken by what they have learned about eachother and themselves. The doorbell rings and two policemen enter. There has been a fatal accident- or was it an accident? The audience must make its own determination as to where the truth lies.

WGA Registration 2001

Synopsis:

"The Silent Scream" is about a man and a woman trapped in a loveless marriage. Absurdist yet with a profound tragedy at heart, Silent Scream is a black comedy which explores a dysfunctional marriage, a war of the sexes, the trauma and misunderstanding that comes from refusing to acknowledge guilt and pain.

Synopsis:

Newly arrived resident at Sunnyvale Acres Retirement Home, Anne Brockhurst, doesn't think Sunnyvale is the place for her, and has no hesitation in saying that these are not her kind of people. Insulted and angered. Sophie Ostrovski, formerly assistant conductor of the Mendelsohn Choir, an aging hippie and earth mother at Sunnyvale, goads Anne. Sophie's explicit language and talk of her former lovers, infuriates Anne and shocks fellow resident, Myrna Thomas, an Afro-American former professor of Biblical Studies. Sparks fly and tempers flare, but Sunnyvale is soon invaded by problems from the outside as well.Myrna's son wants his mother to leave Sunnyvale and come to live with his family in their tiny home so that, as he says, "the money (spent at Sunnyvale) could go toward paying down our mortgage." Myrna is angry yet torn. Anne's daughter-in-law comes to visit after years of alienation and meets with an icy reception. Sophie's long held secret is revealed. As Anne and Myrna and Sophie try to cope with the trauma that has upset their lives, and as Sam Bloom continues to wisecrack about everything except his wife -whose death left him bereft - the women reach an accommodation with Sunnyvale, with aging, and with each other. "Welcome to Sunnyvale Acres" is a play about human beings who do not lose their humanity, their character or their sense of fun just because they have become "seniors". It is a play that will resonate with those who hope one day to be there, those who are almost there and those who have already arrived at the unknown territory of sixty or above. "Welcome to Sunnyvale Acres" will make audiences laugh and will make them cry. It is about people who refuse to be invisible. Sophie, Anne and Myrna, the principal characters, reaffirm that growth never stops, that we all keep learning and changing. The play ends as a new resident arrives and another cycle begins.