Significant Productions, 2001-present
Unity (1918) was developed as part of Touchstone Theatre's Playwright in Residence Program during the 1999/2000 season, and was first produced by that company in March 2001 at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre in Vancouver, BC, with the following cast and production team:
BEATRICE - Michelle Porter
SISSY - Dawn Petten
SUNNA - Kerry Sandomirsky
HART - Robert Moloney
MICHAEL/GLEN/MAN 2 - Bob Frazer
MARY - Sarah Louise Turner
ROSE - Wendy Morrow Donaldson
DORIS - Gina Stockdale
STAN/MAN1/CHAPERONE - David Bloom
Directed by Katrina Dunn
Set Design: Robert Gardiner
Costume Design: Mara Gottler
Lighting Design: Adrian Muir
Sound Design & Original Music: Patrick Pennefather
Stage Manager: Jessica Chambers
"Director Katrina Dunn shows a deft hand as she guides her talented troupe of nine actors through the text's many shifts of mood and intent, sparking a remarkable ensemble performance.[…] as a whole it's a contender for the best new play on a Canadian stage so far this year."
- Tom Sandborn, Globe and Mail
"I'd opt to take Robert Gardner's set into the Hall of Fame with it. It's so vast and weathered under Brian Pollack's huge, painted sky, it's amazing that the Cultch can accommodate its seeming enormity. [...] Tufts of dead grass around the platform root Unity (1918) in such detailed reality that it leaves playwright Kerr free to explore a world of small-town hopes and dreams."
- Jo Ledingham, Vancouver Courier
"...this funny, compassionate, beautifully produced play."
- Anne Fleming, Georgia Straight
http://canlit.ca/reviews/acts_of_war
Toronto Premiere
Directed by Chris Abraham, 2004
...certainly one of the more inept plays to win a Governor General’s Award. (!)
...reads better than it plays...
Other Productions
Persephone Productions (Quebec) 2007
St. Thomas U 2007
Queen’s U 2008
NZDrama School (New Zealand) 2008
La Troupe Da Jour (Saskatoon) 2008
UBC 2008
Ryerson U 2010-11
McMaster University 2012
The Victoria production of Unity at the Guelph Performance Archive
Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama’s Richard Burton Company 2014 (UK Premiere)
University of Nebraska-Lincoln 2014
Professional American Premiere
August 6-23, 2015
Gene Frankel Theatre
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New York Times: "The cast is uniformly strong, with one speech standing out: Joe Jung as Hart..."
"...it’s smoothly directed by KJ Sanchez and meets every challenge that a tiny, bare-bones theater presents. Evocative lighting and sound effects...abound."
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"Imagine Our Town as seen through the eyes of Stephen King, and you’ll have a pretty good picture of what to expect from Canadian playwright Kevin Kerr’s Unity (1918)."
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"Unity is not only a thoughtful work of historical fiction, but a shrewd depiction of human behavior in the midst of the plague."
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NY Theater Now: "Unity (1918) is simultaneously engaging and subtle, provocative and folksy, and most of all a fascinating story executed with charming theatricality."
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Joe Jung delivers a "delightfully comic, honest and touching performance." Joshua Everett Johnson's portrayal of Stan is "wonderfully heartfelt." Jessi Blue Gormezano's plays Beatrice "with the sweet grit and determination of a woman fighting for her own."
"With this dedicated and talented ensemble and this brazen script, Sanchez has guided this production to highlight the harsh realities of war, love, and loss." - Patrick Moran
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Manhattan With a Twist: "To say I was floored by this play is an understatement."
"Every performance was different and singling one out would be a disservice to the work they did together."
"To miss this play will be a foolish move from any theater lover. I can’t stop talking about it to everybody I know who loves the stage and even to those that don’t."
"It’s a perfect fit, the ensemble’s talents and creative impulses are a perfect match with Kevin Kerr’s black humor, generosity of spirit – the way he finds love and joy in the darkest places – and his language. The cast is perfectly equipped to travel between the banal and the profound, just as Kevin’s writing does. All the stars lined up for this one."
