Boom Baby: Play Synopsis

• "Boom Baby" was developed with Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre (PARC) and Dramaturge Pamela Halstead.
• Staged readings occurred at Eastern Front Theatre, Handsome Alice, Alberta Theatre Projects, and The Red Deer Players.
• A workshop production took place at Alumnae Theatre's Fireworks festival.
• The play won the Canadian National Playwriting Award (Theatre BC) and the Grand Prize in the Alberta Playwriting Competition.
• Setting: The camps, town, and surrounds of an enormous open pit mining operation

Synopsis:

• Iona, a young woman from Canada's East Coast, goes west for work, trains as a heavy equipment operator, and becomes pregnant after a casual encounter.
• Unable to raise a child in the work camp, she considers carrying the baby to term and adoption by an infertile couple (an Engineer and a Communications person).
• The play questions what can and cannot be given a dollar value in a work camp environment.

Characters:

• Iona: A young woman from the East Coast, in her 20s.
• Justin: A young man from the East Coast, in his 20s.
• Hort: Justin's friend, slightly older, also in his 20s, who grew up in the same small town.
• Brooke: A public relations specialist for mining companies in the Canadian North, in her late 30s.
• Owen: An engineer working for an extraction company, in his late 30s to early 40s, married to Brooke
• Note: Act 1, Scene 4 team members with Brooke can be played by cast in silhouette.

Staging:

• Scenes run continuously until the act break.
• Minimalist set with items from a work camp.
• Young people dressed for outdoor work
• Older characters in upscale business casual.

Manley L. Natland:

• Manley L. Natland was an American geologist who proposed using nuclear bombs to access oil buried deep under Alberta's sands in 1956.
• The plan involved detonating a 9 kiloton atomic bomb, followed by others as large as 100 kilotons, underground to boil the oil out.
• The concept has seen recent attempts to revive it for electricity or AI.

Playwright's inspiration:

• Image of the green/blue arteries and tributaries of the Athabasca River and a pre-born child floating in utero
• Characters based on family, friends, and those in demanding environments.
• The playwright grew up in a Nova Scotia fishing town displaced by ocean draggers.
• Many went west or north to sustain families and hard questions arose about extractive industries.
• The playwright hopes the play balances hard edges with warmth, laughter, and human connection.

Act 1, Scene 1:

• Takes place at a camp in the Canadian North
• Involves Justin, Iona and Hort having a conversation

Act 1, Scene 2:

• Brooke and Owen are in bed
• Brooke has a book, and Owen has a laptop

Act 1, Scene 3:

• Justin and Iona wake up in bed

Act 1, Scene 4:

• Brooke is chairing a communications meeting

Act 1, Scene 5:

• Hort and Iona are at a campsite
• Justin comes in with lobsters

Act 1, Scene 6:

• Justin tracks Iona down while working at the bar

Act 1, Scene 1:

• Brooke and Owen are in bed

Act 2, Scene 2:

• Iona storms over to the campfire

Act 2, Scene 3:

• Justin and Iona are at the Rusty Bucket

Act 2 Scene 4:

• Brooke and Owen are waiting for Iona at a pub

Act 2, Scene 5

• Justin has the Nova Scotia flag tattooed on his back, and is with Hort

Act 2, Scene 6

• Brooke and Owen are at the table after the meeting

Act 2, Scene 7:

• Justin waiting for an answer outside of Brooke office buildings

Act 2, Scene 8:

• Iona on the phone trying to reach to her mom

Act 2, Scene 9:

• Hort and Justin are at the campfire

Act 2, Scene 10:

• Iona and Brooke are at the bar