Playwrights Canada Press
Toronto
Bare Bear Bones © Copyright 2021 by Michael Grant
First edition: March 2021
Author photo © Lisa Thaler
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Title: Bare bear bones / Michael Grant.
Names: Grant, Michael, 1969- author.
Description: A play.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20210104945 | Canadiana (ebook) 20210107731 | ISBN 9780369101532 (softcover) | ISBN 9780369101549 (PDF) | ISBN 9780369101556 (HTML) | ISBN 9780369101563 (Kindle)
Classification: LCC PS8613.R36 B37 2021 | DDC C812/.6 — dc23
Playwrights Canada Press operates on Mississaugas of the Credit, Wendat, Anishinaabe, Métis, and Haudenosaunee land. It always was and always will be Indigenous land.
We acknowledge the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts — which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country — the Ontario Arts Council (OAC), Ontario Creates, and the Government of Canada for our publishing activities.
For my wife, Sherry
Bare Bear Bones was first produced by the Elmira Theatre Company from February 10 to 18, 2012, with the following cast and crew:
Norman: Brian Otto
Ruth: Kathy Fahey
Frank: Thom Smith
Libby: Tracy Leighton
Annie: Crystal Levesque
Lenny: Brandon Maxwell
Bruce: Michael Hunter
Doris: Tracy Biggar
Producer: Bev Dietrich
Director: Deb Deckert
Stage Manager: Iris Miltenburg
Assistant Stage Managers: Alice Soeder and Maia Frumhartz
Sound Design and Operation: Joe Brenner
Lighting Design: Thom Smith, Mic Michenfelder, and Brandon Maxwell
Lighting Operation: Mic Michenfelder
Costumes: Danielle Ball
Set Design: Phil Dietrich
Set Construction: Phil Dietrich, Ken Frid, Ron Henderson, and Adrian Miltenburg
Set Dressing: Gord Grose
Set Painting: Sam Dietrich and Phil Dietrich
Props: Sherry Heine and Janet Zwicker
Props Assistants: Sue Parr and Pam Webb
Makeup: Sue Rose
Front of House: Gail Waring
Tickets: Sandy Weiler
Program: Cathy Read-Wilson
House Managers: Pat Northey and Ruth Connor
Norman: A quick-witted but conservative empty nester in his fifties. He is married to Ruth and is the father of two children, but he has no grandchildren. He is reluctantly attending a marriage counsellor because Ruth feels that they have “lost the spark.”
Ruth: A religious and conservative empty nester married to Norman. She is in her fifties and raised two children as a stay-at-home mom. Lately, with the children grown, she feels her marriage has no spark and is desperate to rekindle the relationship so it can be like that magical night in the pickup.
Frank: A widower in his fifties who has found a more liberal side to life. After losing his wife to cancer, he was deeply depressed, but accidentally discovered a new way of life. The Bare Bones Alternative Lifestyle Campground was created from his failing family campground. He is the father of Libby and Annie.
Annie: In her twenties and attempting a career as an actor. She lives at home with her father and helps him at the campground. She is energetic and always interested in having fun.
Libby: In her late twenties or early thirties. She studies medicine at university and is in her final year. During the summer she helps her father around the campground. She is more conservative than her younger sister Annie.
Lenny: In his twenties or thirties. The ultimate “party dude.” On the other hand, there may be a more professional side to him too, as he works at a talent agency in the city.
Bruce: A middle-aged regional manager for a linen company who spends much of his time on the road. He has the typical travelling salesman stories but is happily married to Doris.
Doris: Also middle-aged. She is married to Bruce and they have raised two boys together. She and Bruce decided after the kids left home that they would do something outside their comfort zone at least once a year.
The blankets and sleeping bags that Ruth hangs on the clothesline in Act One, Scene One must create a half wall blocking all actors’ midsections from the audience.