Orlov - Freeze

Living for so long without light, heat, power or transport never became a daily routine, for no one knew when it would all end. Back then in January of 98, I was a single dad parenting a daughter determined to make the most of her adolescent rebellion, and I was in the midst of a painful breakup with a girlfriend. They were trying times, but there was no room for self-pity, for we were all drawn into the same lifeboat facing the perfect storm. Others were coping in far worse circumstances and tragically some died. But most were doing their very best to help each other out. Battery-run radio was our lifeline to the ice-coated world outside our frosted windows, and every day new stories were told of heroes on the job Hydro linemen and health-care workers, firemen and police, ambulance and taxi drivers, neighbours and strangers rising to the challenge.

Thats what kept up my spirits. In the midst of this dark hour, I sensed that a bigger story was passing through us. It was an extraordinary moment in history, when all Qubecers, no matter their race, religion, language, birthplace or work, became pure laine to the core, as we collectively faced the wrath of nature. For the first time since I had moved to Montreal from Boston 25 years earlier, I finally felt at home. That is what inspired me to write Freeze. So I chose to pen an allegorical comedy that depicts the historic Ice Storm as a metaphor presaging cooler more inclusive times in Qubec compared to the separatist firestorms of earlier decades.

Now, nearly twenty years later, that vision has been validated. My goal was to capture with stylized humour the drama and the camaraderie that friends, families and strangers experienced together. But how to project onstage the intimacy of a big city and warmth of heart that so many felt despite no heat? The plot? Five quirky characters, a dysfunctional mlange of Qubecers from diverse backgrounds, get trapped together overnight, butting heads by candlelight over love, language and politics, as the raging storm forces them to unwittingly bond. And perhaps for the first time on Canadian stage race was never raised as an issue in the relationship of a black and white romantic couple. My hope is that this story, published on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Great Ice Storm of 98, will provoke you to ponder with hits of laughter whether the two solitudes of Montreals past has become a stereotype in this new 21st century. Stephen Orlov, Montral, 2016 Freeze is set in Montral in January of 1998, during the worst evening of the Great Ice Storm of the Century.

This two-act allegorical comedy requires a cast of five actors. THE CHARACTERS (in order of appearance): NICOLE GAGNON A savvy 39-year-old award-winning journalist at Qubecs main pro-sovereignty newspaper, Le Devoir. MICKEY BRENNAN A street-smart 50-year-old handyman from Montrals Irish working-class neighbourhood of Pointe-Saint-Charles. CURTIS BROCK A passionate 40-year-old African-Canadian jazz musician, who twenty years earlier had left Montrals neighbourhood of Little Burgundy for a career in Toronto. RJEAN CHARTRAND A husky 33-year-old Hydro-Qubec lineman from Laval.