Originally named and formally produced under the title Jody. The Starrigan was first produced by the Avion Players of Gander, Newfoundland in 1972, and was named winner of the Provincial Regional Drama Festival for that year.
A Starrigan is a Newfoundland word for a blasted and dying tree that stands alone on a hilltop.
In 1963 the Newfoundland provincial government introduced a policy of “Centralization”. Various inducements were offered fishermen in thousands of isolated settlements along the rugged coastline to move to selected “growth centres” in search of industrial employment. In five years, twenty-six thousand people were relocated, leaving four hundred and twenty communities abandoned. The plan was declared unfeasible, and officially cancelled in 1975.
The government re-settlement program offers the people of Oderin $3,000.00 per family to move to a growth center, on condition they all agree to go. Fisherman Phonse Delaney refuses, paralyzing the preparation, and earns the enmity of his neighbors, and the unfortunate death of his favorite grandson.
Keywords: Newfoundland re-settlement, centralization, unfortunate death, paralyzing, family, communities, abandoned, fishermen, dying, isolation
Genre: Drama for TV