Governor General’s Literary Award Recipient: Robert Chafe for AfterImage

Based on a short story AfterImage by Michael Crummey

Adapted by Robert Chafe

AfterImage, written for the stage by Robert Chafe

Directed by Jillian Keiley

Composed by Jonathan Monro

Robert Chafe, a playwright from St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, recently received the Governor General’s Literary Award 2010 for Drama, English-Language, for the play AfterImage.

Here are the comments from the theatre company, Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland, about the play AfterImage:

An accidental electrocution and an unexpectedly forged family. These two seemingly disconnected events intertwine to tell a story of connectivity and belonging in Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland’s AfterImage, based on the short story by lauded novelist and poet Michael Crummey (author of River Thieves, The Wreckage and Galore).

Composer Jonathan Monro designed a new instrument for the production that integrates guitar and piano wire into the copper wire set. A multi-tasking musical eight person cast tell the story on a stage literally flowing with live electricity.

Crummey’s original narrative hums with danger and possibility, much like the world upon which Artistic Fraud’s retelling unfolds.

Robert Chafe acknowledges his gratitude for the support of  Fresh Ground new works, Harbourfront Centre’s National Commissioning Programme in 2007, as follows:

“Harbourfront Centre’s Fresh Ground program allowed Artistic Fraud to explore the full implications of Michael Crummey’s short story Afterimage as a stage play,” said Mr. Chafe, “and allowed me to make that first big step, the stage adaptation of the text. I, as with everyone with the production, remain so grateful for that critical early support.”