A one-act version of the longer play Girls Can Hunt by Rick Butts, A Father for Jordan tells the story of how the estranged twins Harlan and Wally reconcile after Wally’s death in order to rescue an orphaned baby and bring the child’s father back to life. Needless to say, it’s a ghost story. The twins’ mother, also a ghost, is an abiding presence as the brothers craft the plan to have a brother die a hero so an orphan can know a living father.
This ghost story is set in 1860 against the backdrop of the Grand Trunk Railway’s steam locomotives making travel by rail from Montreal to Toronto possible in a single day. This nation-building advancement in technology spawned the economic and political forces that a few years later would result in the creation of a new nation.
Keywords: Drama, ghosts, fraternal twins, sibling relationships, family reconciliation, history of railway, historical drama, period, 19th century Canadian history.
Genre: Drama, Historical, Ghost story
Acts: 1
Run time: 60 minutes
Cast size: 3 actors
Male roles: 2
Female roles: 1
Casting note: Note on casting twins: Although HARLAN and WALLY are twins, the actors need share only basic similarities such as race, age, height and general physical attributes. They should credibly be able to present as similar but realistically they are twins because they say they are and have acted so for their entire lives. As children, they often switched identities to fool teachers and grown-ups because it was fun. As adults, from a distance they can be mistaken for each other by people who know them only casually.
Visit the playwright's website, www.rickbutts.ca