Departures and Arrivals

"Her style is often ironic, affectionately mocking... with a delicacy and subtlety of language". -- Books in Canada

With flexible casting and flexible production requirements, this play is ideally suited for the classroom. In 22 vignettes set in an airport departure and arrival lounge, Departures and Arrivals captures a spectrum of travellers awakening to contemporary limbo. Shields' dialogue uncovers the hidden opportunities, missed and taken, which shape peoples' lives.

Carol Shields is a writer and critic who was born in Chicago and grew up in Illinois. Shields resided in Canada, where she was the Chancellor of the University of Winnipeg, and a professor at the University of Manitoba. Shields's first novel, Small Ceremonies, was published the week of her 40th birthday. Her other works of fiction include The Orange Fish, Larry's Party, Various Miracles, and The Stone Diaries, which received the Governor's General Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Shields has also been awarded the Canadian Bookseller's Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the CBC Prize for Drama.