Staged Reading of

Gracie
By Joan MacLeod

Gracie is a dramatic monologue that tells the story of a girl raised in a fundamentalist community that transports child brides between polygamist communities in both Canada and the United States. As the play opens, Gracie is eight years old and moving with her mother, brother, and sisters from her community in the southwestern United States to a community in southeastern British Columbia, Canada. Her mother has been assigned to a new husband; she becomes his eighteenth wife. In five acts, Gracie plays herself at five ages and also gives voice to thirteen other characters, including her older sister Celeste – who becomes a wife at sixteen, a mother at seventeen – and her brother Billy, who is forced out of the community just a few years after the family arrives in Canada. Gracie is fifteen when the play ends, again with a journey as she herself leaves the community.

Gracie stars Vancouver Actor Lili Beaudoin.

Lili Beaudoin is a Vancouver born performer but has lived and worked in cities all over Canada. Some of her notable stage credits include I, Claudia (Art's Club), The Nutcracker (Caravan Farm Theatre), Blind Date (Spontaneous Theatre), The Humans (Theatre Calgary), Gracie (ATP & Belfry), Sister Judy (Art’s Club), The Tempest, Love’s Labours Lost, Midsummer Night’s Dream & Comedy of Errors (Bard on the Beach). Elsewhere Lili’s voice can be heard in several animated tv shows such as Beat Bugs, Littlest Pet Shop, Rainbow Ruby, Max Steel and My Little Pony. Lili is a two time Leo nominee for her work in voice over, as well as the recipient of a Betty Mitchell award for Actress in a Leading Role in Drama for Joan Macleod's one woman show Gracie. When she is not working, Lili spends her days rock climbing, improvising and walking her two scruffy little dogs.