Selected Plays of Kevin Arthur Land

Several plays are available for purchase on the Playwrights Guild of Canada website, click here to be redirected to Playwrights Guild of Canada for more information. If the play is not available on the site, please contact Kevin directly.  Some of the plays below will have a direct link for purchase.

SKINNING THE CAT

(Drama, 2m)

Twenty-something Ned kidnaps fifty-something Bruce and imprisons him in a derelict warehouse as they await a phone call from Ned’s accomplice. But somehow this whole thing doesn’t seem to be about ransom. Purchase copyscript.

WHOLE LOTTO LOVE

(Romantic Comedy, 1f, 1m)

Dwight and Lenore have been separated for ten months, but they played their lucky numbers a year in advance. Holding out the prospect of reconciliation to her hopeful ex, Lenore agrees to a visit. But her goal is to find the ticket and take off with her new boyfriend. Purchase copyscript.

RAVE

(Comedy/thriller, 1f, 2m)

When a Northern Ontario summer theatre company is remounting its successful romantic comedy “Whole Lotto Love” from the previous year, the Artistic Director opts not to bring back the male lead. Now the actor has come back for revenge. Purchase copyscript.

HEYDAY

(Comic Drama with music, 7f, 11m)

In 1977, Canadian-born Florence Kinrade, an opera singer and vaudevillian, is suffering from dementia in a Californian nursing home. A strange visitor appears and asks her if she murdered her sister Ethel in 1909 in Hamilton, Ontario, prompting Florence to tell her life story as a vaudeville show.

CHANTS

(Drama, 2f, 3m)

Adele Carrier welcomes her three boys to the family home for a weekend to celebrate the ordination of their youngest son as a priest, but the presence of their late brother Mark seems to haunt the celebration. Purchase copyscript.

AFTER MARLENE

(Bio-drama with music, 1f, 2m)

A night editor at a small newspaper tries to get permission to write an authorised biography of Marlene Dietrich, whom his father idolized, but the retired legend has ignored all his correspondence. Until he gets a late-night long distance call from Paris.

TURNS

(Comic Drama, 2f, 3m)

Two elderly women, lifelong friends but now shut-ins, engage in word- and role-play as they face the inevitable. Purchase copyscript.

POSSESSIONS

(Drama, 4f, 6m)

Inspired by a case of suspected demonic possession that occurred in Germany in the mid-seventies, a girl in her early twenties dies during an exorcism and her parents and priest go on trial for manslaughter. Purchase copyscript.

POSSESSIONS
(a One-Act Play)

(Drama)

Adapted from the full-length play, the one act version runs about 50 min, yet preserves many of the elements of the original. It is intended for schools or One-Act Festivals. Purchase copyscript.

DINNER AT THE NORMS

(Black Comedy, 4f, 8m)

The dinner party being hosted by Norman and Norma Norm, a middle-class Victoria couple, is interrupted by the systematic murder of their six guests.

MISS BEGOTTEN

(Drama, 1m or 1f)

Based on the life of Dianne Mattiussi, poet, incest survivor, and founder of the Alliance of Sexual Abuse Programs in Hamilton, this is a one-person play designed to be performed by either a male or female actor.

BLOOD AND RUST

(Drama, 2m)

Collin, a disgraced pharmacist, wants to heal his relationship with his mentally-challenged brother Johnny, a newspaper seller, but his roommate Jack has other ideas. Purchase copyscript.

TIES

(Drama, 2f, 1 m)

A young man commits a horrific act and blames his actions on the equinoctial gales.

TERROR

(Comedy, 2f, 7m)

An innocuous comedy being performed in a theatre is interrupted by a group of terrorists who await a phone call telling them what to do next.

CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS

(Y/A Play, 1f adult, youth dance class)

A kindly janitor at a school of dance offers a shy child aspiring to dance the tools she needs to succeed by invoking the animals from Saint-Saens “Carnival of the Animals” to teach her.