The Playwrights Database
ELAINE SLATER
Nationality: Canadian
email: Click here to contact Website: n/a
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Elaine Slater is an award winning writer of plays, short stories, novels, non-fiction and she has turned one of her plays into a filmscript. A citizen of Canada, she lives with her husband and a delightful little Italian greyhound in Toronto. Education: B.A. Smith College, M.A. Comparative Lit, Columbia University, thesis won award.
A Short List of Publications : "Sweet Mysteries of Life", Publish America, February 2004: "Come Childhood Memories", Canadian Author's Association Poetry Anthology, 1999: "A Funny Thing Happened. . ." Wordscape 1999: "Trumpet" Newsletter Editor / Publisher / Writer / Researcher 1995-2005: Editor / Publisher / Founder / ad writer "Source Handbook Publishers" : Short Stories included in numerous magazines and anthologies including : "Fingerprints" CAA Anthology: "100 Malicious Little Mysteries," Isaac Asimov - 3 stories included: "Best of the Best Detective Stories of the last 100 years," Alan Hubin: "New Short English Detective Stories," Kenkyusha Press: "Ellery Queen Annual,"
Books: "New York Times Book of Needlepoint" for Right Handers and For Left Handers "Elaine Slater's Book of Needlepoint Projects" Holt Rinehart Winston
Current work: Interactive CD Project , film script.
Awards, Honours: American Accolades Contest-quarter finalist "Guilt" screenplay 2004 Drama "Welcome to Sunnyvale Acres" performed at Ryerson University 2003 New Century Awards Contest-quarter finalist "Guilt" stage play, 2001-2 New Century Awards Contest quarter finalist "Silent Scream" stage play. 2001-2. DramaAward - New Talent Contest 2000, "Welcome to Sunnyvale Acres," "Silent Scream." 1st Prize winner Dundas Poetry Contest August 22, 1999 "Absalom" Winners Circle 7, 1999
Memberships and Board Affiliations (past and present): Mystery Writers of America; Canadian Authors' Association; Crime Writers of Canada; PEN; Treasurer, Member of Board, Canadian Civil Liberties Association; Chair, Operation Lifeline; Canadian National Committee for Refugees, Board; Toronto Mayor's Committee on Aging.
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below is a list of Elaine Slater's plays - click on a Play Title for more information
Guilt Silent Scream, The Welcome to Sunnyvale AcresGuilt
Synopsis:
the entire play takes place in the living room of a large house in a Canadian city. Sarah Mendelsohn has lost her entire family when they were caught trying to flee an oppressive regime. She wants to forget, but in spite of herself, when she finds that many in her family's former circle of friends are now living in exile nearby, she invites them to a dinner party as a way of reliving happier days. Hans and Maria, who worked for her parents long ago and who now work for her, are aghast. they are sure that one among the invited betrayed her family to the authorities. But Sarah feels it was the system and not an individual that caused the tragedy. the dinner party takes place on a bitter snowy winter's night. Guests have to struggle to get their cars up the steep driveway to Sarah's home but they all come for their own reasons. there are seven guests, the Cracows, Sarah's former landlord and landlady; Erich Richter, once Dean of the Law School, her father's most trusted friend; the Traubs, a couple who lived upstairs; Magda, a piano pupil of Sarah's mother; and Anton Blau, a friend of her murdered brother. During the course of the evening, the conversation takes a dangerous turn toward that night long ago, the night before the family was caught. As the guests begin to learn more about eachother than they had dreamed, they learn about themselves as well. Even Sarah is tortured by guilt - at her own survival and at her treatment of her mother. It becomes apparent that guilt is not a simple thing, that everyone is guilty to a certain extent. But if everyone is guilty, then who is guilty? Is no one guilty? Sarah, who has always wanted to forget, suddenly finds herself passionately anxious to learn the truth. But that too is elusive. the evening ends and the guests leave the house shaken by what they have learned about eachother and themselves. the doorbell rings and two policemen enter. there has been a fatal accident- or was it an accident? the audience must make its own determination as to where the truth lies.
Notes:
WGA Registration 2001
1st Produced:
Ryerson College in Toronto, Canada -
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If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
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Genre:
Mystery, 2 act full length Mystery
Parts:
Male: 9 Female: 6 Other: doubling possible
Further Reference:
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Top of PageSilent Scream, The
Synopsis:
"the Silent Scream" is about a man and a woman trapped in a loveless marriage. Absurdist yet with a profound tragedy at heart, Silent Scream is a black comedy which explores a dysfunctional marriage, a war of the sexes, the trauma and misunderstanding that comes from refusing to acknowledge guilt and pain.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Ryerson College in Toronto, Canada 2000
Organisations:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Drama, short 2 act
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 2 Other: Two of the men are bit parts
Further Reference:
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Top of PageWelcome to Sunnyvale Acres
Synopsis:
Newly arrived resident at Sunnyvale Acres Retirement Home, Anne Brockhurst, doesn't think Sunnyvale is the place for her, and has no hesitation in saying that these are not her kind of people. Insulted and angered. Sophie Ostrovski, formerly assistant conductor of the Mendelsohn Choir, an aging hippie and earth mother at Sunnyvale, goads Anne. Sophie's explicit language and talk of her former lovers, infuriates Anne and shocks fellow resident, Myrna Thomas, an Afro-American former professor of Biblical Studies. Sparks fly and tempers flare, but Sunnyvale is soon invaded by problems from the outside as well.Myrna's son wants his mother to leave Sunnyvale and come to live with his family in their tiny home so that, as he says, "the money (spent at Sunnyvale) could go toward paying down our mortgage." Myrna is angry yet torn. Anne's daughter-in-law comes to visit after years of alienation and meets with an icy reception. Sophie's long held secret is revealed. As Anne and Myrna and Sophie try to cope with the trauma that has upset their lives, and as Sam Bloom continues to wisecrack about everything except his wife -whose death left him bereft - the women reach an accommodation with Sunnyvale, with aging, and with each other. "Welcome to Sunnyvale Acres" is a play about human beings who do not lose their humanity, their character or their sense of fun just because they have become "seniors". It is a play that will resonate with those who hope one day to be there, those who are almost there and those who have already arrived at the unknown territory of sixty or above. "Welcome to Sunnyvale Acres" will make audiences laugh and will make them cry. It is about people who refuse to be invisible. Sophie, Anne and Myrna, the principal characters, reaffirm that growth never stops, that we all keep learning and changing. the play ends as a new resident arrives and another cycle begins.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Organisations:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Drama, 2 act full length
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 9 Other: doubling possible and some gender may be changed
Further Reference:
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