Have you heard the expression, “It takes a village (to raise a child)”.  In this case, “the child” is a play. My play WAVES will have its premiere next spring.  Recently, I got together with my director Liz Best and we read the play out loud between us.  Liz is a big part of that village and we are in the midst of putting together a team to form a larger village to ultimately stage WAVES.

Below I’ve outlined the history of WAVES and all the villages it took to come to this point in the play’s journey.  The play’s inspiration was based on the death of my mom (back in Nov 2023).  I did not write for several months after her passing.  Slowly but surely, themes of grief, love and family emerged.  By May 2024, I wrote my first blog about the play which you can read about @ A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words.

I spent the next 6 months writing the play and by Jan 2025, I had a finished a draft.  With Liz’s help, we gathered this village of actors below and I had a first reading. You can read all about that reading @ Making Waves .

Following this reading, I went away and did re-writes for a few months.  In June 2025, I had a 2nd reading with another group of actors below.  You can read all about that reading @ If You Build It… 

After that reading I did another round of re-writes, which were more like tweaks as the play was in reasonably good shape.  In the meantime, I had sent WAVES out to various theatres and competition (and getting a lot of rejection along the way).  Around Christmas 2025, a present dropped on my lap.  My play won the Scripts on Fire Playwriting Competition run by Fire Exit Theatre. This was a positive sign that the readings and re-writes were paying off.  You can read about the win @ WAVES Wins Play Competition.

I was flown out to Calgary as part of the prize and while there, the script was workshopped yet again with another set of actors.  In May 2026, two years after I conceived the idea to write the play, WAVES had another reading – this time in front of a live audience with these actors below.  You can read all about that reading @ The Calgary Trip.

Every one of these “villages” above has helped mould the play and brought me to the place where I am today.  The creative life is a journey.  It’s not s sprint, it’s a marathon.  And as I continue on this marathon with the first official production of the play, it will take another kind of village to bring it all together. We are in the early stages of this process, and it is nerve-raking with heavy lifting, but I look forward to sharing WAVES with the public.
It takes a village…