2. Contents I.The author II.Themes III.Style IV.Structure V.Character (http://www.2x2ltd.com/Us.html)

3. I. The author Born in Calgary in 1952. Spent his young formative years in Edmonton. Education: - Radio and television arts at NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology). - Creative Writing at UBC in 1977 - Acting school in London, England

4. Reputation - “… the most prolific Canadian theatre artist of his generation” (Toronto Life Magazine). a.Actor - over 50 plays, a number of TV series, e.g. Just Cause, DaVinci’s Inquest, Beggars and Choosers, Cold Squad, X-Files (as the “Grey-Hired Man.” b.Director - Over 80 stage and TV productions. c.Writer - Over 20 works for Theatre and screen. d.Twice won the Governor General Literary Award for Drama, the highest honour for playwriting in Canada.

5. 1982 - His first play - Last Call: A Post-neclear Cabaret at Tamahnous Theatre in Vancouver Still in production and adapted for TV (CBC). 1998 - Wrote The Overcoat, Theatre Calgary 2007 - Directed A Little Night Music, Shaw Festival - Adaptation of Moby Dick at The Stratford Festival

6. Plays (7 Stories: Student Matinee Series, Study Guide. Calgary, AB: Theatre Calgary, 2009, 5.)

7. Awards Major Literary Awards Won by Morris Panych YearTitleAwards 19907 StoriesSix Jessie Richardson awards 1994The Ends of the EarthGovernor General’s Award for Drama 1996Vigil Jessie Richardson Theatre Award for “Outstanding Original Play or Musical” 2004Girl in the Goldfish BowlGovernor General’s Award for Drama 2005The OvercoatDora Award — and Jessie Award Five-time winnerDora Mavor Moore Award Fourteen-time winnerJessie Richardson Award Nominated three timesChalmers Award Three-time winnerSidney Riske Writing Awards (7 Stories: Student Matinee Series, Study Guide. Calgary, AB: Theatre Calgary, 2009. 5)

8. Theme - Death Vigil, a man visits his apparently dying aunt. 7 Stories, “a Chaplinesque* man aims to throw himself off a building ledge while observing the hilarious, shallow urban lives of the building’s tenants; he is saved from physical death by a flight into a metaphysical universe, a movement into art itself, where he ‘forgot, my own story’” (Gilbert). The Overcoat**, adaptation of 2 Nikolai Gogol stories. “The life and death of titular councillor Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin, … an impoverished government clerk and copyist in the Russian capital of St. Petersburg” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Overcoat).

9. *Chaplinesque

10. **The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Overcoat)

11. Theme - Isolation “We’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we are not alone.” (Orson Welles) “Remember we’re all in this alone.” (Lily Tomlin)

12. Theme - What is Reality? Charlotte and Rodney’s “violent games … heighten their sense of being alive by bringing them closer to death.” Leonard (psychiatrist) “refuses to acknowledge any definable reality by continually shifting his perspective and interpretation.” Marshall (actor) denies his own reality, and adopts a persona for personal and financial gain.” Rachel (religious fanatic) “constructs bogus faith and contrives catastrophes to incite others to subscribe, parodying God’s trials of Job.” Joan and Michael “expose the utter pointlessness of dressing for an existence that is all pretense. For them, human consensus is simply a reduction of life to ‘beige,’ and the central question is ‘which beige?’” (Gilbert CTR 10 in Nothof) Lillian (old woman) convinces the Man that if he rises “above his limited and negative point of view” and let his imagination create “a freer environment, a larger space. … “Freedom is a state of mind.”

13. Meaning of Life Man (the protagonist) becomes an “‘everyman,’ … struggling to find meaning in this life, to break free of his limitations and his restricted sense of self” (Nothof).

14. Style “Plays reflect a humorous, dark world full of absurdist allusions” (Gilbert). “…fresh and quirky observations of an existential and neurotic world” (Gilbert). “.. Daily struggle of ordinary people with life’s bizarre minor annoyances” (Gilbert). “I like surrealism and hypernaturalism onstage, with music and humour and larger-than-life details. I think I’m good at taking people outside the reality of the world they live in” (Panych in Theatre Calgary).

15. V. Structure Metatheatrical - Attention is drawn to its form. Structure is a metaphor. Characters role-play to create a reality for themselves Theatre becomes a way of looking at life. “All the world’s a stage, and the men and women merely players” (Shakespeare As you Like It). The ledge is, itself a stage. Marshall’s view of theatre as life - cynical, absurd.

16. Structure (cont’d) Metadramatic examples of “self-reference, where the play directly calls attention to itself as a play. … Pull the audience out of the illusion both by becoming its representatives in asking questions and by satirizing the whole play in mock literary analysis” (Nothof). Storytelling - “creating an imaginative construct in an effort to make sense of life, a way of coming to terms with chaos

17. The Play “… a sweet and funny little play about a man on an apartment building’s window ledge whose deliberations, presumably about whether to jump, keep being interrupted by nutty residents who poke their heads out of windows” (Neil Genslinger, New York Times in Theatre Calgary).

18. The Plot 1.Charlotte joins him on the ledge. She is having an argument with her violent lawyer boyfriend, Rodney, who attempts to strangle her but is prevented by the Man. After interacting with the Man she is persuaded by Rodney to come back in and then a gunshot is heard.

19. 2. Jennifer hears the gunshot and looks out the window. Leonard emerges from a different window. He is a paranoid psychiatrist who keeps offering the Man therapeutic advice. 3. Marshall (Mike) is engaged to be married to a millionaire but is only playing the part, complete with phoney moustache. Party guests also are actors. Charlotte appears to claim that Rodney is again trying to kill her.

20. 4.Joan and Michael - Michael is an obsessive redecorator, breaks a sentimentally valuable vase of Joan’s. 5.Leonard offers the Man pills. 6.Rachel, who spends her time and money answering people’s prayers, askes the Man how long he expects to be on the ledge. She lowers money on a string to a man below who has been praying for help.

21. 7. Percy (party) appears looking for a drink. Joan and Michael argue about the colour of a bolt of cloth. Percy says he has 940 friends (FB?), none of whom he likes. 111 parties that year. 8.Host (antisocial) Al provides no food or drinks and plays the music too loud. Anxious to follow departing guests to next party. 9.Nurse Wilson wants music turned down. Humanitarian but hates everybody.

22. 10.Elderly Lillian Wright (heart problems) claims to be 100. Apartment bound for 50 years. 11.Convinces the Man to make a decision. Advises the Man that he must fly 12.Man “flies” to ledge on another apartment building.

26. 7 stories - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJNuTVoOz do Jun 13, 2012 - Uploaded by Amanda Reilly This is a production I directed for my Grade 12 final dramatic production. 7 Stories is a play written by Morris Panych. A brilliant comedy about a mans contemplation of suicide.

27. Works Cited Gilbert, R. “Ken and Morris”.. Accessed February 3, 2016.http://www.2x2ltd.com/Us.html “Nikolai Gogol”.. Accessed February 3, 2016.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Overcoat Nothof, A. “7 Stories.” Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia. Accessed January 29, 2016.http://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=7%20Stories “The Overcoat”.. Accessed February 3, 2016.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Overcoat Theatre Calgary. 7 Stories: Student Matinee Series, Study Guide. Calgary, AB: Theatre Calgary, 2009.