The Glace Bay Miners’ Museum

A story of the ill-fated romance between a wandering musician-social-idealist and a Cape Breton coal miner’s daughter, whose dreams are reawakened by their passion. The Glace Bay Miners’ Museum is a play in which the all-consuming brightness of dreams and memory are overshadowed by absentee greed, callousness and exploitation. It is a tragedy that is hard as nails and completely unsentimental, yet nonetheless full of love and humour.

Cast of two women and three men.

AUTHOR

Wendy Lill

Wendy Lill was born in Vancouver in 1950 and was educated in both London and Toronto, ON. She lived for many years in Winnipeg, MB, and now resides in Dartmouth, NS, with her husband Richard and two children, Joe and Sam. She has written for magazines, radio, television, and stage. Her plays have been produced extensively on Canadian and international stages. Her play All Fall Down examines the roots of intolerance and hysteria and their effects on love. Sisters received the Labatt’s Canadian Play Award at the Newfoundland and Labrador Drama Festival. Primedia Productions brought out television versions of two of Lill’s plays, Sisters and Memories of You, both of which Lill scripted. (Sisters won a Gemini in 1992). Lill has four plays nominated for a Governor General’s Award for Drama: The Glace Bay Miners’ Museum, All Fall Down, The Occupation of Heather Rose, and Corker. Talonbooks has also published her Chimera, Messenger, and The Fighting Days. Between June 1997 and June 2004, Wendy Lill was the Member of Parliament for Dartmouth and the Culture Communications critic for the federal New Democratic Party (NDP).

Reviews

“Lill has translated a novel – and, moreover, a novel that is essentially an intense, first-person monologue – into a captivating dramatic form, with engaging dialogue, conflict between characters, and enough thoughts shared directly with the audience to retain the flavor of the original.” – Canadian Book Review Annual

“… a tender, romantic triumph over the genre …” – Eye Weekly

“… bittersweet magic realism leavened by the ribald banter between the characters”
– Halifax Daily News

“… as real as the coal.”
– Halifax Chronicle Herald

“What an emotional roller coaster ride! Playwright Wendy Lill has touched every possible nerve in her latest offering, The Glace Bay Miners’ Museum.” – Halifax Mail Star