Breaking Cover


Breaking Cover is an innovative and interactive initiative created by Red Deer Players in conjunction with the Red Deer Public Library. It was first created through a partnership with the Friends of the Library as a means of working with local and Alberta wide playwrights to workshop scripts in progress, using a group of experienced Red Deer actors and directors.

​An integral part of the process is the interaction between audience, director, playwright and cast, following the performance. This interaction provides the playwright with the opportunity to see how this new work is received and perceived by an audience.

After the first successful season of Breaking Cover, Red Deer Players is thrilled that the decision was made to adopt it as full fledged Red Deer Public Library program, for a second season.

Please note: As a result of a change in Library hours, Breaking Cover season 2 now has a different starting time.

​Note: All our readings now take place at 12:00 noon in the Snell Auditorium at the Red Deer Public Library.

**Red Deer Players is looking for a Producer for Breaking Cover for 2021-2022. Drop us a note if you are interested at [email protected] 

Season 2

Park Bench With a View - David Haas - September 15 , 2019

Looking for a place to have her lunch, Cass stops her police cruiser in a neighborhood park, where she shares a bench with the elderly man, Norman.  As Norman tells her of his long history with the park and Andrea - his one great love, Cass wonders there’s more to the story than meets the eye.

After Mourning - Mike Czuba - January 19, 2020

In 1924, a man from London's National Gallery visits Johanna Bonger in Holland and makes a substantial offer for a painting of Sunflowers. This is where we begin.  For 35-years up to her death in 1925, she was unwavering in her efforts to bring Vincent Van Gogh’s work to the world.   Johanna Bonger was the woman who saved Van Gogh.  This is her story.
​

Absinthe, Bourbon, Vodka and Saki - Caroline Russell-King - Nov 17, 2019

Running away – admit it, as an adult, you’ve thought about it too. A woman takes in a student into her imaginary worlds. She shows him a salon in Paris in 1890, a bar in the French Quarter in New Orleans, a remote coastline on a beach in PEI and a Japanese village drowning in cherry blossoms as she battles an old inner daemon.
NOTE: This play contains coarse language that may not be suitable for some

The Bodice Ripper - Blaine Newton - March 15, 2020

Can two couples locked in a cabin write a romance novel in four days? Can’t be any harder than salvaging a marriage or dodging a mob enforcer. Come on, team! This bodice isn’t going to rip itself! 
Did you guess – this one’s a comedy!!

Relative Value - Christi Dos Santos - May 10, 2020

"It’s 2014:  Alberta is riding high as oil hits a euphoric $106.90 a barrel.  In a public relations firm, Colby, a failed economics PhD and Dani, a street smart go-getter,  start their first day of work together, and forge an unlikely friendship as they navigate through a volatile workplace.

Late one night, a questionable incident occurs that puts their friendship to the test.  To make matters worse, the oil industry implodes overnight.  As tensions rise, the question of what actually transpired that night can no longer be ignored.

Season 2 photographs

(Interested playwrights are invited to submit their work for consideration to reddeerplayers.com)

Park Bench With a View - by David Haas

Absinthe, Bourbon, Vodka and Saki - by Caroline Russell-King
​and After Mourning - by Mike Czuba