Waiting for the Parade

By: John Murrell

Production by: Northumberland Players

Directed by: Brenda Worsnop

Running: Wednesday, May 17 at 7:30 p.m.

EODL winner for the 2017 Theatre Ontario Festival

Waiting for the Parade by playwright John Murrell, is an award winning Canadian play that takes place in Calgary in the 1940s during WWII. With music and costumes from the era, it captures life back home as people rallied to support the war effort amid shortages and personal loss.

In the play, five women battle their anxieties about the war with courage, tension, humour, and a little music. Marta, of German origin, is dealing with prejudice and ostracization; Eve, a young school teacher is aghast at those who glorify the war (including her own husband); Catherine, is coping with the uncertainty of her husband on the front line and takes a job in the local factory; Margaret, God-fearing and afraid for her two sons, is challenged in ways she never anticipated; and Janet, the take-charge organizer, becomes obsessed with community war effort activities. Through it all, they are waiting, waiting for the war to end and the men to return.

Playwright John Murrell still lives in Alberta.  His beautifully written play was first produced by Alberta Theatre Projects in 1977 and went on from there to play in major theatres across Canada as well as the Dominion Theatre in New York. In 2010 Soulpepper Theatre, Toronto,  presented Waiting for the Parade to rave revues.

The play won the prestigious Floyd S. Chalmers Award in 1980, the first of three Chalmers Awards for Mr. Murrell.