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    The Grandkid
    The Grandkid
    The Grandkid
    Ebook189 pages1 hour

    The Grandkid

    By John Lazarus

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Julius Rothstein and his granddaughter Abby have loved each other from opposite ends of Canada since Abby was born. But now, accepted as a freshman student at the university where Julius teaches, Abby is moving in with him to be close to school and to keep her newly widowed grandfather company. The two must negotiate a new relationship as housemates and friends, which means dealing with issues of youth and age, work and play, activism and apathy, homework and heart attacks, and those three tricky topics: sex, politics, and religion.


    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPlaywrights Canada Press
    Release dateApr 1, 2014
    ISBN9781770912151
    The Grandkid
    Author

    John Lazarus

    John Lazarus has been an award-winning playwright since 1970. His plays include Babel Rap, Dreaming and Duelling, The Late Blumer, Village of Idiots, and The Grandkid. John taught playwriting for a decade at Studio 58, and sporadically at the Vancouver Film School and National Theatre School. He retired in 2021 after 21 years of teaching at Queen's University. He and his wife currently divide their time between Vancouver and Kingston, Ontario. His book Two Ways About It: The Inside and Outside of Playwriting was published in the fall of 2023 by J. Gordon Shillingford.

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      Book preview

      The Grandkid - John Lazarus

      9781770912151.jpg3973.jpg

      The Grandkid © Copyright 2014 by John Lazarus

      Playwrights Canada Press 4477.png

      202-269 Richmond Street West, Toronto, ON, Canada M5V 1X1

      phone 416.703.0013 • [email protected] • www.playwrightscanada.com

      No part of this book may be reproduced, downloaded, or used in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, except for excerpts in a review or by a licence from Access Copyright, www.accesscopyright.ca.

      For professional or amateur production rights, please contact Charles Northcote, Core Literary

      140 Wolfrey Ave., Toronto, ON M5S 1M1

      416.466.4929 • [email protected]

      Cover design and illustration by Patrick Gray

      Print book design by Blake Sproule

      Author Photo © Tim Fort

      The Alegreya serif typeface used was designed by Juan Pablo del Peral. The Cabin Condensed typeface was designed by Pablo Impallari. The typefaces are used under the SIL Open font license version 1.1

      Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

      Lazarus, John, 1947-, author

         The Grandkid [electronic resource] / John Lazarus.

      A play.

      Electronic monograph in multiple formats.

      Issued also in print format.

      ISBN 978-1-77091-214-4 (pdf).--ISBN 978-1-77091-215-1 (epub)

      I. Title

      PS8573.A99G73 2014   C812’.54    C2013-908483-5

      cip

      We acknowledge the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council (OAC)—an agency of the Government of Ontario, which last year funded 1,681 individual artists and 1,125 organizations in 216 communities across Ontario for a total of $52.8 million—the Ontario Media Development Corporation, and the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities.

      To Anne Levitsky,

      my grade five teacher and lifelong friend,

      for early and ongoing inspiration.

      Contents

      Copyright

      Playwright’s Notes

      Production History

      Characters and Setting

      Dedication

      Act I, Rothstein Was Our Name

      Abby's Arrival

      House Rules

      Shabbos

      Gazorpimosity

      Julius's Scrapbook

      Phone Your Parents

      Birthday Party

      Rothstein the Snowman

      Abby’s Laundry Story

      Julius on Hockey

      Home From Hockey

      The Morning of the Unveiling

      Dressed Like That

      Noah Was at the Party

      Julius the Slob

      Dr. Goldberg’s Bra

      Before Abby Was Born

      After Abby’s Party

      Phoning David

      Act II, Phoning Abby

      On the Swing

      Abby Comes Home

      Watching a Movie with Julius

      A Real Professor

      After the Rallies

      Phoning Vanessa

      The Guy Who Killed Himself

      On the Screening of Low Visibility

      Abby, After Shul

      Obituary Draft

      Dishonesty and Atonement

      Phyllis’s Dress

      Vandalizing the Loyalist

      Heart Attack

      Ten More Years

      Glossary

      Acknowledgements

      About the Author

      Playwright’s Notes

      Scene titles in the script are for rehearsal convenience, not for the audience’s information.

      All overlaps throughout the play, indicated with a forward slash (/), are optional and may begin later than indicated.

      In the theatre cast list and bios, the characters are to be referred to as Rothstein and Rothstein.

      The Grandkid, produced by Theatre Kingston, received its premiere at the Baby Grand Theatre in Kingston, Ontario, on February 2, 2012, in a slightly different draft. It featured the following cast and creative team:

      Rothstein: Sophia Fabiilli

      Rothstein: Sam Malkin

      Directed by Brett Christopher

      Set design by Mark Hunt

      Costumes by Cass Sclauzero

      Lighting design by Tim Fort

      Sound design by Becky Gold

      Production management by Bill Penner

      Technical direction by Alysha Bernstein

      Stage management by, in succession, Kristi White, Brett Christopher, Amy Cadman, Alysha Bernstein, and Kyle Beres (it’s a long story).

      Characters

      Julius Rothstein, sixty-seven and then sixty-eight. In the audience scenes he is a few years older; in the flashback scenes, he is in his fifties.

      Abby Rothstein, his granddaughter, eighteen and then nineteen. In the audience scenes she is around thirty; in the flashback scenes, she is a little girl of five.

      Setting

      The living and dining room of Julius’s home in a small university city in Ontario. The home is that of a film professor. It was decorated by his late wife, Phyllis, and reflects her tastes as much as his. The decor may also communicate that this is a Jewish home with both leftist and pro-Israeli political sympathies. Decoration includes a framed photo of Julius’s deceased wife, Phyllis, a Jewish lady in her early sixties, and a large mirror on the wall, of antique, faded glass in an ornate frame. One door, from the dining room side, leads to the kitchen; another door leads off to the vestibule and front door; and a third door leads to the unseen rest of the house, which includes Abby’s bedroom, Phyllis’s sewing room, and the stairs to the second floor and Julius’s bedroom. There are two other, smaller acting areas for the audience scenes.

      Act One

      Audience Scene: Rothstein Was Our Name

      In the audience scenes, ABBY and JULIUS address two different fictitious audiences, on two different occasions, and are unaware of each other. ABBY, thirtyish, wears a black scarf with a tear or cut in the fabric. JULIUS, in his seventies, wears a brightly coloured, hand-knit yarmulke and holds a champagne glass. They are these ages, with these accessories, in all of the audience scenes. In these scenes, their lines may overlap or be spoken simultaneously.

      ABBY

      First of all, I should give you fair warning: I am going to be referring to him as Rothstein, because that’s what I always called him.

      JULIUS

      For this joyful occasion, I will be referring to her as Abby—

      ABBY

      Dad asked me not to, especially today.

      JULIUS

      —Although ever since she was three or four, I’ve addressed her as Rothstein.

      ABBY

      He asked me to call him Grandfather, Grandpa, Zaydie, or, as he put it, something respectful like that.

      JULIUS

      She addressed me as Rothstein too.

      ABBY

      But it was respectful.

      JULIUS

      Tells you something about our relationship.

      ABBY

      He called me Rothstein right back. That was our name. (continues simultaneously with JULIUS, below) As Rothstein said, the only problem would be if we forgot which of us was which.

      JULIUS

      (simultaneously with ABBY, above) I always used to say, the one pitfall might be forgetting which Rothstein was which.

      Abby’s Arrival

      Late night, early September. The house is a bit of a mess, with a couple of days’ worth of untidiness created by someone not expecting guests. Books, clothes, newspapers. The doorbell rings. JULIUS, sixty-seven years old, in a bathrobe, crosses to the front door.

      JULIUS

      (calls through door) Who the hell is it? It’s after midnight!

      ABBY

      (off, eighteen years old) Rothstein!

      JULIUS

      Yes, I’m Rothstein! Who are you!

      ABBY

      It’s me, Rothstein! It’s Rothstein!

      JULIUS

      Oh, for God’s sake!

      He opens the door to ABBY, dressed for travel, with luggage and a hockey

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