The Bridge

By Shauntay Grant

Set in a rural Black Nova Scotian community, The Bridge explores the complex relationship between two brothers strained over twenty years of secrecy, deception, and dishonour. Secrets are revealed one by one from the brothers themselves, as well as a trio of community gossips who provide the musical backdrop for this gospel-infused tale. A story of a family torn apart by betrayal, The Bridge invites us to consider the roads we choose in life, and to wonder whether we can ever cross back over the bridges we burn along the way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Playwrights Canada Press
• Release date: Apr 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9780369102287

Shauntay Grant

Shauntay Grant is a poet, playwright, interdisciplinary artist, and children’s author who lives and works in Kjipuktuk, Mi’kma’ki (Halifax, Nova Scotia). A former poet laureate for the City of Halifax, she “creates artworks that are engaging and accessible, but also challenging, rigorous, and informed by deep research” (Royal Society of Canada). Her play The Bridge (Playwrights Canada Press) premiered at Neptune Theatre’s Fountain Hall, a co-production between 2b theatre company and Neptune in association with Obsidian Theatre Company. Set in a rural Black Nova Scotian community, this multilayered story of a family torn apart by betrayal received eleven Robert Merritt Award nominations, winning four, including for Outstanding New Play by a Nova Scotian. Grant’s first stage play Steal Away Home won the Jury Award for Outstanding Drama at the Atlantic Fringe Festival. Her other plays include KK (Boca Del Lupo, Red Phone project), Passing (Eastern Front Theatre, Micro Digitals project), and the ten-minute monodrama Beyere (Obsidian Theatre Company, 21 Black Futures project). An associate professor of creative writing at Dalhousie University, Grant holds professional degrees in creative writing, music, and journalism. Her theatrical work for young audiences has toured with Neptune Theatre’s Tour Company, and she has been commissioned by Against the Grain Theatre to write the text/poetry for Identity: A Song Cycle. She is the editor of the anthology From The Ashes: Six Solo Plays (Playwrights Canada Press) which collects groundbreaking solo plays by Black Canadian women and womxn. Her first solo stage play is in development with 2b theatre company. Grant is the author of several books for children including My Fade Is Fresh (Penguin), When I Wrap My Hair (HarperCollins), and Africville (Groundwood), which won a Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award and was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award. Her other honours include an Established Artist Recognition Award from Arts Nova Scotia, a Poet of Honour prize from Spoken Word Canada, a Joseph S. Stauffer prize from the Canada Council for the Arts, and Arts Nova Scotia’s inaugural Black Artist Recognition Award.

Book preview

Two Black men are next to each other. One is sitting in a chair, in jeans, boots, and a blue shirt. He has short-cropped, greying hair and is resting his head against his right hand, his elbow resting against his knee. The other man stands slightly behind the sitting man, to his right. He is wearing all black except for a priest's collar. He looks toward the sitting man, frowning. Framing them both from behind is a large green circle, with a crow in flight at the top, just escaping the circle. At the top of the page in blue serif type is 'The Bridge,' and 'Shauntay Grant.'

The Bridge

Shauntay Grant

Playwrights Canada Press

Toronto

The Bridge © Copyright

2021

by Shauntay Grant

First edition: April 2021

Jacket painting by Natia Lemay

Author photo © Shyronn Smardon

Playwrights Canada Press

202-269 Richmond St. W., Toronto, ON M5V 1X1

416.703.0013 | [e-mail] | www.playwrightscanada.com

No part of this book may be reproduced, downloaded, or used in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, except for excerpts in a review or by a licence from Access Copyright, www.accesscopyright.ca.

For professional or amateur production rights, please contact Playwrights Canada Press.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: The bridge / Shauntay Grant.

Names: Grant, Shauntay, author.

Description: A play.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print)

20210139390

| Canadiana (ebook)

20210139420

|

ISBN 9780369102263

(softcover) |

ISBN 9780369102270

(

PDF

)

|

ISBN 9780369102287

(

HTML

) |

ISBN 9780369102294

(Kindle)

Classification:

LCC PS8613

.

R3663

B75

2021

|

DDC C812

/.

6

—dc

23

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, the Ontario Arts Council (

OAC

), Ontario Creates, and the Government of Canada for our publishing activities.

A stylized, illustrated blue tree sits to the left of the words 'Canada Council for the Arts / Counseil des arts du Canada.''The word Canada is written out with a Canadian flag—a red maple leaf flanked by two vertical red stripes—situated above the final A.An orange O is bisected by a green and purple C, situated to the left of the words 'Ontario Creates | Ontario Créatif.''A large red A is bisected by an angled blue C, with a green O balanced between the two letters on the left. To the right of the OAC logo are the words 'Ontario Arts Council / Counseil des arts de l'Ontario' over a red line with the words 'An Ontario Government Agency / un organisme du gouvernement de l'Ontario' below the line.

Contents

Copyright

Playwright’s Note

Production History

Characters

Setting

Time

Text

Act 1

Scene 1

Scene 2

Scene 3

Scene 4

Scene 5

Scene 6

Scene 7

Act 2

Scene 1

Scene 2

Scene 3

Scene 4

Scene 5

Scene 6

Scene 7

Scene 8

Act 3

Scene 1

Scene 2

Scene 3

Scene 4

Scene 5

Scene 6

About the Author

Landmarks

Title Page

Copyright

Table of Contents

Playwright’s Note

Production History

Characters

Setting

Time

Text

Act 1

Scene 1

Scene 2

Scene 3

Scene 4

Scene 5

Scene 6

Scene 7

Act 2

Scene 1

Scene 2

Scene 3

Scene 4

Scene 5

Scene 6

Scene 7

Scene 8

Act 3

Scene 1

Scene 2

Scene 3

Scene 4

Scene 5

Scene 6

About the Author

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Playwright’s Note

About fifteen years ago I woke up one morning and began the unfamiliar task of piecing together a handful of old poems—verses that had no bearing on one another, yet in those early hours something compelled me to look for patterns, connection, parallel themes, a bridge among them. I took up each individual text and treated it as an unrefined, deliberate piece of a large puzzle. I cut them up and laid the language down, shuffling metaphors like cards across my kitchen table. Extracting narratives—some for storing, some for keeping. And what was kept I carefully considered, polished, and pieced together as the bones of what I thought could be a play.

This is how I first learned to be