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| Directed by Gord Billard Produced by Mike Coady |
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| Featuring: Amanda Vallis Jordan Flynn Jacki St. Croix |
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Beothuck Street's Fall production, which we call simply "Graceland", actually combines two one-act, companion pieces by Ellen Bryon, separately titled "Asleep on the Wind" and "Graceland". A touching and evocative story, this is a play about dreams, frustated realities and the lengths people will go to escape. Set in Louisianna and Memphis, Tennesee, the spirit of Elvis Presley is ever-present to the characters in this story. Their fascination with Elvis offers them an escape from reality, even a reason for living. The first act takes place in 1972 in a small clearing in Bayou Teche, Louisiana, the "special place" where Rootie Dejaun and her favorite brother, Beau, a handsome, sensitive and restless young man come to talk in private, and to escape their crazy family life. | |
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But this time
Beau has come to tell her that he has enlisted in the army and has
requested service in Vietnam. Inevitably the news comes as a deep shock to Rootie, but she must accept the fact that
her life, for better or worse, will never again be the same.
Ten years after Beau left for Vietnam, Rootie, now 23 years old, finds herself at the end of a pilgrimage to front entrance of Graceland, the late Elvis Presley's Memphis mansion, at five o'clock in the morning, three days before the estate is to be opened to the public. She meets another ardent Presley fan, the be-wigged and brassy Bev Davies, who is camped out before the gates. Each is determined for their own reasons to be the first to enter the sacred precincts. Wary at first, the two soon progress from dispute to shared confidences in this funny and ultimately touching play. |
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Press Coverage / Reviews:
The Express - a "Graceland" article
The Muse - a "Graceland" article
The Telegram - a "Graceland" Review
| Past Productions | Beothuck Street
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