Fred, make it stop.
FRED
I wouldn’t if I could. It’s time to go.
SALLY
Where?
FRED
I guess … home …
JOHN
Home …
BILL
Home …
FRED
Home.
They huddle closer to the desk at centre stage, as the darkness begins to creep even closer.
MIKE
I guess nobody killed the dead white writer then.
FRED
It was never about him.
MIKE
Then this was all for nothing.
JIM
Me was so close to making it. To getting away.
FRED
No, Jim, you weren’t.
BILL
What happens now?
JOHN
Yeah, what?
FRED
We’ll find out.
SALLY
But it’s not fair.
FRED
No, Sally, it’s not.
BILL
I … I did not even get a chance to be funny.
Fade to black.
End.
About the Author
Ojibway writer Drew Hayden Taylor is from the Curve Lake Reserve in Ontario. Hailed by the Montreal Gazette as one of Canada’s leading Native dramatists, he writes for the screen as well as the stage and contributes regularly to North American Native periodicals and national newspapers. His plays have garnered many prestigious awards, and his beguiling and perceptive storytelling style has enthralled audiences in Canada, the United States and Germany. His 1998 play Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth has been anthologized in Seventh Generation: An Anthology of Native American Plays, published by the Theatre Communications Group.
Among Taylor’s many awards are: the Canada Council Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award for Theatre (2009); the Governor General’s Award for Drama, Nominee (2006) In a World Created by a Drunken God; the Siminovitch Prize in Theatre, Nominee (2005); James Buller Aboriginal Theatre Award for Playwright of the Year (1997) Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth; and the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play, Small Theatre Division (1996) Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth.
Also by Drew Hayden Taylor:
PLAYS
alterNatives*
The Baby Blues*
The Bootlegger Blues
The Boy in the Treehouse / Girl Who Loved Her Horses*
The Buz’Gem Blues*
Cerulean Blue*
Dead White Writer on the Floor*
400 Kilometres*
God and the Indian*
In a World Created by a Drunken God*
Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth*
Someday
Toronto at Dreamer’s Rock / Education Is Our Right
FICTION
Fearless Warriors*
Motorcycles and Sweetgrass
The Night Wanderer
NON-FICTION
Me Artsy
Me Funny
Me Sexy
NEWS: Postcards from the Four Directions*
* Published by Talonbooks
About Talonbooks
Thank you for purchasing and reading Dead White Writer on the Floor.
If you came across this ebook by some other means, feel free to purchase it and support our hard work. It is available through most major online ebook retailers and on our website. The print edition is also available.
Talonbooks is a small, independent, Canadian book publishing company. We have been publishing works of the highest literary merit since the 1960s. With more than 500 books in print, we offer drama, poetry, fiction, and non-fiction by local playwrights, poets, and authors from the mainstream and margins of Canada’s three founding nations, as well as both visible and invisible minorities within Canada’s cultural mosaic.
Learn more about us and the author.
Copyright © 2011 Drew Hayden Taylor
Talonbooks
278 East 1st Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V5T 1A6
www.talonbooks.com
Electronic edition: March 2016
First printing: February 2011
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts; the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program; and the Province of British Columbia through the British Columbia Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit for our publishing activities.
No part of this book, covered by the copyright hereon, may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic, or mechanical—without prior permission of the publisher, except for excerpts in a review. Any request for photocopying of any part of this book shall be directed in writing to Access Copyright (The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency), 1 Yonge Street, Suite 800, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5E 1E5; tel.: (416) 868-1620; fax: (416) 868-1621.
Rights to produce Dead White Writer on the Floor in whole or in part, in any medium by any group, amateur or professional, are retained by the author. Interested persons are requested to contact his agent: Janine Cheeseman, Aurora Artists Inc., 19 Wroxeter Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4K 1J5; tel.: (416) 463-4634; fax: (416) 463-4889; e-mail: aurora.artists@sympatico.ca.
Cataloguing data available from Library and Archives Canada
ISBN-13: 978-0-88922-663-0 (print)
ISBN-13: 978-1-77201-068-8 (EPUB)
ISBN-13: 978-1-77201-069-5 (Kindle)
ISBN-13: 978-1-77201-070-1 (PDF)