The East End Plays a festival of George F Walker's work at the Access Theatre

Sightlines Theater Company presents The East End Plays, a festival of six (three fully staged, three readings) award-winning plays by George F. Walker, in repertoire at Access Theatre fro, the 29 Oct - 20 Nov 2005.

Set in what is transparently a single neighborhood,The East End Plays by George F. Walker is a series of related plays that explore the margins of contemporary urban life in the global village.

Three of The East End Plays - Love and Anger, Criminals in Love, and Tough! - will be presented for the first time ever in repertory. The remaining three - Better Living, Escape from Happiness, and Beautiful City - will be presented as readings.

  • Criminals in Love
    Explores the lives -and modest fantasies of future happiness- of Gail and Junior, two young people in love. Overwhelmed by the pervasiveness of Junior's extended family of felons, he and Gail are forced to fall back upon a neighborhood philosopher/bum. Together, they make comic, yet poetic, attempts at a strategy to avoid not only the inevitability of Junior's destiny, but also the great shadow of the abyss.
    Director: Eileen Phelan.
    Cast: Franklin Clay Boyd, David Colacci, Lila Donnolo, Faryl Millet, Melanie Rey and John Taylor.
    Dates: 29 Oct - 20 Nov 2005
  • Love And Anger
    Follows a ragtag group of would-be activists hell-bent on defeating the corruption caused by a media mogul who runs the town. Their unlikely leader is Petie Maxwell, voice of the underdog and former corporate lawyer. Born-again after suffering a stroke, Maxwell becomes a social revolutionary with the will to remake the world - one hopeless lawsuit at a time.
    Director: Lee Gundersheimer
    Cast: Bill Balzac, Ted Hannan, Michael Kuhn, Cecil MacKinon, Jaquita Ta'le and Rae C. Wright.
    Dates: 2 - 20 Nov 2005
  • Tough!
    Walker's dark comedy looks at a relationship on the edge of success or failure. Tina and Bobby face a tough decision: stay together and face the world or go their separate ways, hoping one day they'll come back together. Sometimes love has to be fierce.
    Director: Chris Mirto
    Cast: Mary Cavett, Nick Scoullar and Nell Teare.
    Dates: 12 - 20 Nov 2005
This first-ever George F. Walker festival also features three 'Sunday Brunch Readings,' the readings are free and open to the public with complimentary food and refreshments :
  • Beautiful City (Sun 6 Nov 2pm) - a journey through a city that has been given over to the interests and values of criminal developers, directed by Shelly Wyant.
  • Better Living (Sun 13 Nov 1:00pm) - an "Chekhovian vision" of a family paralyzed by a tyrannical father and husband, directed by Donna Linderman.
  • Escape From Happiness (Sun 20 Nov 1pm) - we enter the world of a uniquely dysfunctional, self-consciously insular, working-class family whose response to the predicaments that occur in life is defensive and extreme, directed by Gaye-Taylor Upchurch.
Often cited as Canada's most frequently produced playwright, George F. Walker made his leap from cab driver to professional playwright in the early seventies by responding to a flyer seeking new works for The Factory Theatre in Toronto. After quickly becoming The Factory Theatre's resident playwright, Walker had a prolific career that spans over thirty years, includes twenty-six published plays, five Chalmer's Awards and two Governor General's Awards. His plays have been translated into German, French, Hebrew, Turkish, Polish and Czech.

Originally published on

Subscribe to our newsletter to unlock exclusive New York theatre updates!

  • Get early access to Broadway's newest shows
  • Access to exclusive deals and promotions
  • Stay in the know about top shows and news on Broadway
  • Get updates on shows that are important to you

You can unsubscribe at any time. Privacy Policy