Station Arts Center Playwright’s Note

The Seed Savers

“Whoever said that farming is the foundation of all the arts is quite correct. When all is well on the farms, all is well elsewhere.”

–Xenophon in Oeconomicus, c. 370 B.C.E.

My characters, Mindy and Joe, Sky and Solo, and Tyler–family, friends and neighbors– are challenged by each other, by the wind and by new technologies. How will our inventions, ubiquitous as the wind, and powered by memory and imagination, change us, in our human hearts? How will we feel about ownership, betrayal, loss and forgiveness? What about love? These questions, I believe, are some of the challenges of the current century, “until the day breathes and the shadows flee.”

This play was developed with the assistance of The Alberta Foundation for the Arts, The Banff Centre, Alberta Playwrights Network, University of Saskatchewan, Calgary’s Lunchbox Theatre and Workshop West Theatre in Edmonton.  I also thank the Canada Council for the Arts and Moira Day for travel assistance. Besides Kathy Thiessen and the amazing cast and crew of this production, I would also like to acknowledge Edmonton theatre artists John Wright, Maralyn Ryan, David MacInnis, Jesse Gervais, Natasha Napoleao, April Viczko, Paul Morgan Donald, Daniela Masellis, Amber Borotsik, Anna Davidson and especially Michael Clark, who helped this play grow and, for being part of the Saskatchewan premiere of a new Canadian play, I would like to thank you.