SETS: Dionne Brand's 'thirsty' triumphs at NAC

Dionne Brand's play thirsty, based on the linked poetry collection of the same title, premiered to critical acclaim November 5th at NAC Studio in Ottawa. NOW Magazine says "Brand's is a voice both brave and beautiful."

See the NAC website for an interview with Dionne Brand, and video clips from the play.

The play is based on an incident in Toronto: 

"'In 1978, Alan, a Jamaican man, was killed in his Toronto home by police. And for the women in his life – his widow, daughter, and mother – the memory of the event still reverberates, fresh and raw. Winner of the 2011 Griffin Poetry Prize and NAC Playwright in Residence, Dionne Brand evoked this heartbreaking experience based on her lyrical poem, thirsty. Her gripping adaptation for the stage adds a new dimension to this story of loss, suffering, and abandonment, revealing the scars left on the family and society. Cultural confrontation turns into tragedy, captured in the victim’s dying word: “thirsty”.'