Morning Bird, The

By (author): Colleen Wagner

Beth and her husband Jake are expecting a baby. While Beth is having an ultrasound, her very expensive hand-sewn Italian-made coat disappears from the hospital waiting room. Beth is furiousÑthe coat which was a honeymoon gift from Jake has become a symbol of the coupleÕs destiny together and itÕs loss now takes on inordinate significance.

The next time they see the coat, it’s being worn by Doreen, a homeless woman who is mentally unstable. Beth is near-hysterical about the theft, feeling that her private life has been violated. She becomes paranoid that Doreen is stalking her and begins to fear for her unborn baby. In effect, Beth wants Doreen to disappear from the face of the earth.

Doreen, as she tells her friend John, isnÕt sure if she stole the coat, or just borrowed it but one thing is certain, she is picking up ÒvibesÓ from it and begins to imagine, surprisingly accurately, the lives of the people who own it. Beth has everything Doreen wants: house, husband, baby on the way. But soon Doreen begins to fear that there will be serious consequences for having taken the coat.

As the charactersÕ lives become more closely entwined, the line between reality and fiction blurs. We step into a shadowy world where fantasies erupt: people morph into other selves. They steal babies, prescribe hysterectomies, and kill one another. Each of them will have to confront the shadow side of themselves before being able to hear the song of the morning bird.

AUTHOR

Colleen Wagner

Colleen Wagner was born in Alberta and studied at the Ontario College of Art and the University of Toronto. Her first play, Sand, was on the final shortlist for best international play at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, England, in 1989. She won the 1996 Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama for The Monument, which continues to be produced internationally and is translated into half a dozen languages. She teaches at York University and divides her time between a farm in New Brunswick and Toronto.

Reviews

ÒTheatre doing what itÕs supposed to do.Ó

ÑRuss Hunt


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Beth and her husband Jake are expecting a baby. While Beth is having an ultrasound, her very expensive hand-sewn Italian-made coat disappears from the hospital waiting room. Beth is furiousÑthe coat which was a honeymoon gift from Jake has become a symbol of the coupleÕs destiny together and itÕs loss now takes on inordinate significance.

The next time they see the coat, it’s being worn by Doreen, a homeless woman who is mentally unstable. Beth is near-hysterical about the theft, feeling that her private life has been violated. She becomes paranoid that Doreen is stalking her and begins to fear for her unborn baby. In effect, Beth wants Doreen to disappear from the face of the earth.

Doreen, as she tells her friend John, isnÕt sure if she stole the coat, or just borrowed it but one thing is certain, she is picking up ÒvibesÓ from it and begins to imagine, surprisingly accurately, the lives of the people who own it. Beth has everything Doreen wants: house, husband, baby on the way. But soon Doreen begins to fear that there will be serious consequences for having taken the coat.

As the charactersÕ lives become more closely entwined, the line between reality and fiction blurs. We step into a shadowy world where fantasies erupt: people morph into other selves. They steal babies, prescribe hysterectomies, and kill one another. Each of them will have to confront the shadow side of themselves before being able to hear the song of the morning bird.

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Details

Dimensions:

86 Pages
8.5in * 5.5in * 0.25in
0.321lb

Published:

August 22, 2009

Country of Publication:

CA

ISBN:

9781897289419

Book Subjects:

DRAMA / Canadian

Featured In:

All Books

Language:

eng

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