The Play — EXCESS

Right Play. Right Place. Right Now!

EXCESS:
A Cuban American Canadian Comedy about Sex! Shopping! and War!
A play in two acts for five characters, who put everything on the line in this sex, drugs, stand-your-ground revenge-comedy about the one thing every nation fights to protect: its story.
EXCESS’ People:
Grace MacDonald. A well-seasoned, unapologetic Canadian screenwriter/actor.
Grant MacDonald. Her homesick NYC-based pharma executive son.
Dr. Làzzara Ortega LA Santos. World-renowned Cuban Oncologist. Their family friend.
Nell Bradshaw. A top-tier Manhattan attorney. Grant’s over-medicated wife.
Arthur Briknale: A handsome, charming, expansionist American TV producer.
Fast, funny, and ferocious, EXCESS is a three-country collision of Hollywood ego, American exceptionalism, Cuban resilience, and Canada’s fiercely defended national treasure: her cultural identity.
Come join us in the beautiful Canada/US border-straddling Haskell Free Library and Opera House theatre. This November 13-15, we're conducting a one-week production lab that culminates in three high-energy, full-tilt preview performances, while the U.S. midterms are still hanging in the air. Each performance is followed by a talk-back with the cast and production team. The full production follows in March 2027.

Join us for the Preview →

Play Synopsis

EXCESS: A Cuban American Canadian Comedy About Sex! Shopping! and War!
By E. Kent Stetson, C.M.
A new play in two acts for five actors (2M, 3F)

On March 14, 2003, as Canada makes the controversial decision not to join the United States’ invasion of Iraq, a battle of a very different kind unfolds inside an elegant Montreal apartment.

Canadian screenwriter Grace MacDonald is furious. Once a respected storyteller, she has watched Canadian history and culture repeatedly rewritten and repackaged by American media. Her latest insult arrives in the form of visiting American television producer Arthur Briknale — a three-time Daytime Emmy winner and former Marlboro Man — who wants Grace to “fix” Canadian history for his new FOX series, Ready, Aye Ready! Repatriating America’s Lost Heroes. His target? The story of Canadian war heroine Laura Secord.

Grace knows the truth. Art does not. And he is about to learn the hard way that Canadian history is not his to rewrite.

Joining Grace in her rebellion is her close friend Dr. Làzzara Ortega La Santos, a Cuban oncologist fundraising across Canada for a children’s sanitarium in Cuba. Làzzara carries her own grievances against American interference and her own reasons for wanting revenge against Arthur Briknale. Together, these two formidable women devise a plan to turn the tables on the arrogant producer and deliver a little historical justice.

But before they can finish their revenge, chaos arrives at the door. Grace’s Manhattan-based pharmaceutical executive son Grant and his American 9/11 claims attorney wife Nell flee to Montreal after a terrifying attempt on their lives, bringing their own secrets, fears, and complications into the mix.

Blending political satire, personal vendetta, cultural collision, and outrageous comedy, EXCESS explores who gets to tell history — and what happens when those who have been silenced decide to fight back. With sex, shopping, rock ’n’ roll, and a healthy dose of Canadian defiance, this fast-paced Cuban American Canadian comedy turns the tensions of 21st-century North America into a wildly entertaining battle of wit, truth, and revenge.

Inside the Play

• The Canadian — Grace MacKinnon: Actor. Screenwriter. Historian. Icon.
• The Cuban — Dr. Làzzara Ortega La Santos: World-renowned pediatric oncologist.
• The American — Arthur Briknale: TV drama producer, Daytime Emmy Award winner.
• Grant Bradshaw-MacKinnon: Grace's son and U.S. pharma executive.
• Nell MacKinnon-Bradshaw: His wife and U.S. attorney.

Where EXCESS Began

From playwright Kent Stetson:

"I started writing EXCESS the day the Twin Towers fell. In Montreal, I overheard two visiting Americans insisting it was all Canada's fault — that we were 'commies,' terrorist sympathizers who had trained the hijackers. There was no reasoning with them. American anger, fuelled by fake news and false facts, was already turning northward. I knew we were in trouble.

My answer to belligerent ignorance? Comedy. I imagined EXCESS as a Noël Coward–inspired French boulevard comedy. But history kept getting in the way. The script grew too angry, too preachy, too pugnacious. It finally found its footing through candid, grounding conversations with four remarkable Canadian women — and one very fine Prime Minister."

Conversations That Shaped the Play

EXCESS didn't come together in isolation. It was shaped over years of candid conversation with some remarkable people.

Preview Times

• Friday, Nov 13 — Preview — 7:30 PM — $20
• Saturday, Nov 14 — GALA Preview + VIP Panel (includes after-party) — 1:00 PM — $75
• Sunday, Nov 15 — Preview — 1:00 PM — $20

Each performance is followed by a talk-back with the cast and production team. On Saturday, the GALA is followed by a VIP panel discussion, with leading voices from Canadian and American politics and the arts responding to EXCESS. Panelists to be announced.

The full production of EXCESS follows in March 2027.

Join us for the Preview → · Buy Tickets →

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Why stage a play about Canada and America on a stage that literally straddles the border? Read about the Haskell Free Library and Opera House →

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