Blissful State of Surrender

In their suburban Canadian home, Sue and Emir’s marriage is a battlefield of bitterness and constant bickering. Their past as Muslims living in Sarajevo haunts them, with flourishing careers lost to war and genocide. But, proud of their life in Canada, they choose to leave these painful memories behind them. When a birthday celebration brings their three daughters home again after eight years, bombshell after revealing bombshell is dropped, and an epic clash of wills erupts, awakening the family’s darkest secrets.

Blissful State of Surrender is a poignant dramatic comedy that delves into the lives of a Bosnian Canadian family grappling with trauma, social-class limbo, and intergenerational differences, challenging Canada’s self-image as a haven for refugees and revealing how internalized oppression breeds lateral violence. For immigrants fleeing the horrors of genocide, even the act of remembering can be dangerous, yet the cycle of violence can only be broken when the truth is finally set free.

AUTHOR

Keith Barker

Keith Barker is a member of the Métis Nation of Ontario. He is a playwright, actor, and director from Northwestern Ontario, and the current artistic director at Native Earth Performing Arts in Toronto. Winner of the Dora Mavor Moore Award and the Playwrights Guild of Canada’s Carol Bolt Award for best new play, Keith was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for English Drama in 2018 for his play This Is How We Got Here. He received a Saskatchewan and Area Theatre Award for Excellence in Playwriting for his play The Hours That Remain as well as a Yukon Arts Award for Best Art for Social Change. His audio play, Every Minute of Every Day,will premiere as part of Factory Theatre’s You Can’t Get There From Here podcast play series in March 2021.

AUTHOR

Sanita Fejzic

Ottawa writer Sanita Fejzić has published two of chapbooks of poetry, and numerous short stories and poems in Canada and the U.S. She is the co-editor of In/Words Magazine & Press, a micro-press and small magazine run out of Carleton University where she is completing her Master’s degree in English Literature. Her research examines the political, cultural and materialist effects of the novella in North America.

AUTHOR

Suad Bushnaq

Hailed as an “incredible artist” by Hans Zimmer, Suad Bushnaq is an internationally acclaimed, multi-award winning Jordanian Canadian music composer of Bosnian, Palestinian, and Syrian roots. Her work has garnered a CASMA (Canadian Screen Music Award), a Hollywood Music in Media Award, and four CSA (Canadian Screen Award) nominations, to name a few. She is the 2021 recipient of the Kathleen McMorrow Music Award from the Ontario Arts Foundation. Her most recent work includes the three-part series Secret World of Sound with David Attenborough, for which she won a Canadian Screen Music Award and was nominated for a Hollywood Music in Media Award.

Reviews

It accomplishes something rather rare in the theatreits a drama that tackles heavy topics but which also successfully delivers flashes of comedy and even a few bits of slapstick

– Barbara Popel Apt613

Blissful State of Surrender seamlessly blends drama and tragedy with comedy It is a touching tribute to the strength and resilience of Bosnian families despite the harrowing events they have had to overcome

– Courtney Castelino BroadwayWorld

Blissful State of Surrender not only opens your eyes to the hardships and intricacies of life as a Bosnian refugee but also proves relatable to any audience member that has a loud passionate and somewhat dysfunctional family

– Sophie Panton The Charlatan

Awards

There are no awards found for this book.

Reader Reviews

Details

Dimensions:

120 Pages
8.38in * 5.37in * .25in
1.00gr
.34lb

Published:

February 18, 2025

Publisher:

Playwrights Canada Press

ISBN:

9780369105332

Book Subjects:

DRAMA / Women Authors

Language:

eng

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