Wasps

WASPs is one of those plays where the whole is quite literally much greater than the sum of its parts—so much so that it becomes, in retrospect, the subject of the play, “what the play is about,” and that doesn’t hit you until you are half-way home after a fun evening of bizarre, exotic, and hilarious entertainment. Although signified only by one minor character in the play, described by the head librarian as “one of our multicultural patrons” (and, of course, by the rather more obvious acronym of the title itself), this is a play about the elements of our constructed tribal identities: incest, fashion, fetishism, style, populist art, amateur psychobabble, and a fearful, murderous fascination with the other, hovering behind the cupboards over the sink, in the basements of suburbia, and in the filing cabinets of your local travel agent.

Cast of 4 women and 2 men.

WASPs is one of those plays where the whole is quite literally much greater than the sum of its parts so much so that it becomes, in retrospect, the subject of the play, "what the play is about," and that doesn't hit you until you are half-way home after a fun evening of bizarre, exotic and hilarious entertainment. Although signified only by one minor character in the play, described by the head librarian as "one of our multicultural patrons," (and, of course by the rather more obvious acronym of the title itself), this is a play about the elements of our constructed tribal identities: incest, fashion, fetishism, style, populist art, amateur psychobabble and a fearful, murderous fascination with the other, hovering behind the cupboards over the sink, in the basements of suburbia, and in the filing cabinets of your local travel agent.

Sally Clark
Born in Vancouver, Sally Clark is a critically acclaimed playwright who has been dazzling audiences with her penchant for dark humour, ironic wit, and sharp character portrayals. Her plays, typically presented in a series of short, vivid, and fast-paced scenes, seamlessly combine comedic and tragic motifs to tell the stories of strong and adventurous women. In Saint Frances of Hollywood and Life Without Instruction, she demonstrates her knack for dramatizing the lives of historical figures, providing a feminist re-visioning of what it means and what it costs to be a heroine. Clark has been playwright-in-residence at Theatre Passe Muraille, the Shaw Festival, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Nakai Theatre, and Nightwood Theatre. She is also an accomplished painter, director, and filmmaker. When she was a resident artist at the Canadian Film Centre, she wrote and directed her award-winning short film Ten Ways to Abuse an Old Woman.

Clark moved to Toronto in 1974 but returned to Vancouver in 1994 and has been residing there since. For more information on the work and career of Sally Clark, visit her website.