The Missionary Position

World Premiere
The Missionary Position
by Greg MacArthur, University of Alberta Lee Playwright in Residence

Director Jan Selman

February 7 to 16, 2013 at 7:30 pm
$5 preview February 6 at 7:30 pm
Matinee February  14 at 12:30 pm
(No show Feb 10)

Timms Centre for the Arts (87 Avenue & 112 Street)

 

 

 

"it's astonishing to me
belief
blind uncompromising belief
the things it can do
the things it can make people do"

After a devastating tsunami engulfs a small remote Central American country, a disparate group of young Canadian missionaries congregate to offer their help.

Rescuing children they believe are orphans, the missionaries are incarcerated, forcing them to confront who they are and what they believe in.

Greg MacArthur, the University of Alberta Lee Playwright in Residence was commissioned to write The Missionary Position for the BFA acting class of 2013 to perform as part of the UofA Studio Theatre.
Known for plays that explore themes of identity and escape, and focusing on characters that exist on the fringes of society, MacArthur describes his own work as "contradictory, unclassifiable, [and] vulnerable."

MacArthur's bold, new play, The Missionary Position, is inspired by actual events. It questions the limits of belief and the audacity of faith and asks provocative questions about foreign aid and our intervention in the developing world.

How do we help, why do we help and who are we really helping?

Are good intentions good enough?

U of A Studio Theatre Media Release: The Missionary Position world premiere provokes questions about interventions in the developing world

U of A Studio Theatre E-Playbill: The Missionary Position

Video Clip: The Missionary Position

Greg MacArthur
Canadian playwright, University of Alberta Lee Playwright in Residence
Artist-in-Residence at Playwrights' Workshop Montreal (2006-2010), Writer-in-Residence at The Writers' Network/Centre for the Book in Cape Town, South Africa (2003), and Playwright-in-Residence at Toronto's Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (1997 -1998).

"I am a theatre artist. I create theatre: To excite. To challenge. To provoke.  To be sexy. To be dangerous."
  -Greg MacArthur

Other Plays:
Tyland
Recovery
Get Away
Snowman
girls! girls! girls!