Welcome to the dining room of 272 Aberdeen Road in Beamsville, Ontario, 1995. This is the room and the year in which we get to know Steve’s parents, Jim and Bettye, the smartest Ross and the most complicated Ross, respectively. Steve dreads and simultaneously looks forward to monthly dinners here; seeing his parents is always nice but never without conflict. 12 Dinners is an autobiographical, heartfelt, funny, and raw story of the family’s journey toward better understanding one another. It addresses the painful but prevalent issue of depression with both humour and humility
Keywords: Depression, family, bipolar disorder
Produced by Here For Now Theatre, Stratford ON, 2024
Genre: Drama
Acts: 1
Run time: 90 minutes
Cast size: 3 actors
Male roles: 2
Female roles: 1
"12 Dinners is a powerful piece of theatre... By showing the different ways in which mother and son cope with the effects of mental illness, Ross helps to remove the sense of shame and silence that many people still feel when confronted with the subject."
-- Christopher Hoile, Stage Door
"12 Dinners is a fully formed piece of theatre – well cast, beautifully performed, and sensitively directed – that heralds Steve Ross’s emergence as an important Canadian playwright."
- Ontario Stage
"Deeply personal, moving, funny, revelatory and beautifully done."
- The Slotkin Letter
"...this moving dining room drama will leave you with tears in your eyes but also a smile on your face."
- A View From The Box