Walker - Moss Park ; and, Tough!: the Bobby and Tina plays

Interested persons are requested to contact Rena Zimmerman, Great North Artists Management Inc., 350 Dupont Street, Toronto, Ontario M5R 1V9; tel.: 416-925-2051; email: info@gnaminc.com. LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION Walker, George F., 1947 [Plays. Selections] Moss Park ; and, Tough! the Bobby and Tina plays / George F. Walker ; introduction by Patrick McDonald. Issued in print and electronic formats. ISBN 978-0-88922-954-9 (pbk.).

ISBN 978-0-88922-955-6 (epub) I. Walker, George F., 1947- Tough! II. Walker, George F., 1947 Moss Park III. Title. PS8595.A557M67 2015 C812.54
C2015-904163-5 C2015-904164-3 For my daughters:
Reni, Courtney, and Kate CONTENTS INTRODUCTION It was in the early 1990s that I asked George to write a play for Green Thumb Theatre, a company I had been running for a couple of years. George and I had worked together a couple of times at Great Canadian Theatre Company and had got along rather well.

At first he was confused by the offer, You want me to write a play for teenagers that goes into schools? No, I want you to write a play about young adults that teenagers and everyone else may be interested in seeing. I went on to explain that Green Thumb was expanding its mandate to include what we were calling young adult programming, to be presented at fixed venues. I wanted to create a series of plays that would be about the lives of seventeen-to thirty-year-olds. I did not want a teen play. Upon hearing this, George was eager to write. We had no discussions about any possible subject matter, at least none that I recall.

Several weeks passed and then George called me and stated, I think I have it. We joked a bit and then ended the call. About three weeks later, Tough! landed on my desk. The first thing you notice with a George F. Walker script is the fluidity of his writing: it moves at the speed of thought. Characters say what they think as they think it and the result can and does lead to both hilarious and painful moments between characters.

You will also notice that Walker never censors or manages what a character has to say. The words and thoughts just tumble out as they all struggle to find the language they so desperately seek to make their thoughts whole. It makes for an exhilarating ride. Both Tough! and Moss Park are real-time plays, something you very rarely come across. Real-time means just that real time. Both plays take place in an east-side park and both play out over seventy to eighty minutes.

It makes for an intense and engaging encounter with three young adults who have lived their lives under the imposing shadow of systemic poverty or, to be polite, underemployment. In Tough! Bobby, Tina, and Jill are nineteen. In Moss Park its more than two years later but Bobby and Tina are dealing with the identical situation an unplanned pregnancy. In Tough! Jill is very present in the action as best friend to Tina. She offers her unconditional love and support while never hesitating to call out Bobby for his misdeeds and fecklessness. In Moss Park she remains a powerful presence albeit an offstage one.

She is caring for Holly, Tina and Bobbys daughter, while Tina and Bobby meet to see if the future includes them together as a family with a second child in the mix. It is fascinating to think that more than twenty years has passed between the writing of these two plays but only two years in the lives of the characters. Walker has matured Bobby and Tina brilliantly. While the situation they find themselves in is virtually the same, in Moss Park their reactions are more severe and moving and often more hilarious than in Tough! Yes, both of these plays are funny. Very funny. In these two plays the comedy comes from the characters lives and the situations they are forced to confront.

Walker is not interested in the traditional comedy staple the one-liner. Instead, the comedy in these plays erupts unexpectedly at the blackest of moments. A scene can veer wildly from side-splitting humour to profound sadness in the blink of an eye. Bobby, Tina, and Jill are very real people who can be found in any community. Walker knows these people intimately and cares for them in an honest and moving way. These three characters are totally engaging and determined to find a solution to their plight, whether it be Tinas straightforward idea of Bobby getting a minimum-wage job or his momentary thought that he could be a successful rapper.

All three characters are very conscious of their status in life but never for a moment does Walker allow them to place blame on others for their predicament. Instead we watch as they try to make sense of their history, their place in the world, and what the future may offer them. The struggles that Bobby and Tina take on are very real to most of us. They face more than an unforeseen pregnancy; they were born into poverty. But they are battlers and never give up. They each have moments of teetering on the precipice only to be rescued by one another.

What Tina and Bobby have above all is love for each other and their children. Family is what matters most for both these young adults. An unbelievable heart beats at the centre of these plays. It is heart-wrenching to watch as they struggle to find their place in the world one that can allow them the peace and dignity and security that we all long for. Patrick McDonald
July 2015 TOUGH! PRODUCTION HISTORY Tough! was first produced by Green Thumb Theatre for Young People and opened at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre on February 4, 1993, with the following cast and crew: TINA: Robyn Stevan BOBBY: Frank Zotter JILL: Leslie Jones Directed by Patrick McDonald Set and costumes by Phillip Tidd Lighting by Gerald King Stage managed by Cynthia Burtinshaw Tough! then went on to complete an eleven-week national tour to Great Canadian Theatre Company (Ottawa), Factory Theatre (Toronto), and Phoenix Theatre (Edmonton). CHARACTERS TINA BOBBY JILL All are age nineteen.

SETTING A small inner-city park. Early evening. Late summer. A small inner-city park. A picnic table. A trash can.

BOBBY is sitting on the picnic table, watching TINA move around in a very agitated way. JILL is lying on the grass a few feet away, writing something on a thick pad. BOBBY is wearing a work shirt, jeans, and boots. JILL is wearing a T-shirt and jeans. TINA is wearing slacks and a nice blouse. She is carrying her shoes.

TINA : Its all lies. Everything you ever told me was a fucking lie. You said I could trust you. Thats a lie. You let me think I knew you. Lies. Lies.

I knew your lies. Ah shit, arent you going to say anything. Are you just gonna sit there like a dog. A lying dog. BOBBY : So what do you want me TINA : Shut the fuck up. Anything you say now is gonna be a lie.