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With an introduction by Sara TilleyFrom playwright and poet Shannon Bramer comes
Trapsongs, a collection of three dark comedies that navigate the realm of the surreal and absurd.
In "Monarita," an intimate friendship between Mona, a frazzled new mother, and Rita, her beloved, estranged friend, is explored. Their interaction is a dance--part ballet, part mud-fight. In "The Collectors," Hanna Parson is being harassed by three ghastly collection agents who force her to confront her debt and isolation as she struggles to create meaningful art in her dishevelled apartment. And in the tragicomedy "The Hungriest Woman in the World," Aimee, a former artist, invites her preoccupied, workaholic husband, Robert, to the theatre to see a play about a sad octopus. His refusal sends her on a dark and playful journey into the topsy-turvy world of theatre itself.
Trapsongs is by turns comedic, grotesque, and profane, but is all the while a tender exploration of the human condition in all its hilarious and humbling glory. Although each of these plays is a discrete creation, they contain and hold each other like a Matryoshka doll; all of the main characters are trapped within the song of their own lives.
About the author
SARA TILLEY is a multidisciplinary artist living on traditional Beothuk territory in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.
SHANNON BRAMER was born in Hamilton, Ontario, and now lives in Toronto. She is a playwright and poet, and the author of many books, including
Precious Energy and
Trapsongs: Three Plays.
Shannon also conducts poetry workshops in schools and is the editor of
Think City: The Poems of Gracefield Public School. Her plays have appeared in juried festivals across the country, among them: New Ideas (Toronto), the Women's Work Festival (St. John's), and Sarasvati FemFest (Winnipeg). Shannon's plays have all been developed in St. John's, Newfoundland, thanks to the Women's Work Festival, where she has returned several times since 2009.
