"…you're caught. In what we call the Pocket. The thirty seconds before your heart stops supplying blood to your brain—and the thirty seconds after. Typically, in this pocket of not exactly time, someone like me shows up. And talks with you a little. Or a lot. Time is quite relative in the pocket. But however long it takes for things to resolve, that's how long the pocket feels. … Some people would see this as a problem. But I want you to think of it as an opportunity."
Once upon a time a little girl was supposed to die. And didn't. And was invited to join the ranks of those give the dying their story—before they pass on.
Her name becomes Rigby—and her after-life career is going to go seriously sideways.
Rigby is Kelley Jo Burke's City of Regina Writing Award-winning play of life and death and what's in-between.
Keywords: Magic realism, physics, disability arts, comedy, banshees, western Canadian playwrights, feminism, City of Regina Writing Award, death, deconstructionist drama, romance
Genre: Drama
Run time: 110 minutes (2 acts, 55 per act)
Suitable for Students 16+
Content notes: References to, but no reenactment of sexual assault, references to but no reenactment of child abuse and mortality, references to, but no reenactment of sexual intercourse, mild swearing (god, damn), references to, but no reenactment of self-harm.
Cast size: 4 actors
Male roles: 1
Female roles: 3
Casting notes: The playwright supports and prefers open casting, in terms of race, background and gender identity. In particular, this was written as a disability inclusive play, and the playwright encourages not only inclusive casting in regards to disability, but inclusive disability practice in the production planning. The characters already take on a number of identities so no doubling is possible.
"Rigby, a play about pain, disability, the measure of a life, the measure of death, is strange, sharp, and surprising... It consistently offers wit and humour expressed through the offbeat but richly imagined characters as it philosophizes on the relationships between bodies, disability, and narratives.
--Anne Fleming and Yusuf Saadi, judges, City of Regina Writing Award 2023
