The 2024 winner of the David King Prize for new theatrical comedies will have its public debut with a dramatic reading in Gibsons this weekend.
Vancouver-based playwright David Johnston is the creator of Tuxedos, a two-person play set in the bleary aftermath of wedding festivities. A pair of mid-tier groomsmen (numbers Two and Five in the order of precedence) attempt to understand an unexpected connection whose inception they only hazily recall. The result is a manic meditation on matrimonial etiquette, emotional vulnerability and the sinuous path to adulthood.
Johnston is a graduate of Langara College’s Studio 57 theatre program, now a professional actor, writer and aerial acrobat. Years ago, he began the script for Tuxedos with a few pages of dialogue. He relegated the work to an electronic folder filled with half-formed concepts.
“And then the David King Prize came around,” Johnston said. “I always write best to deadline, so I started going through my library looking at old projects and things I could come up with.”
The David King Prize is named for the longtime Granthams Landing writer and musician who created dozens of works for the stage and screen. In 1975, King won a Genie award for his film For Gentlemen Only; his 1986 script Life Skills earned the Jessie Richardson Theatre Award for Best Original Play. Vancouver’s Touchstone Theatre established a prize in King’s name following his death in 2021.
Johnston is the third recipient of the King prize, following Pippa Mackie (Hurricane Mona) and Melody Anderson (Home).
“One thing that the play catches well is a sort of screwball, singsong, almost musical dialogue back and forth between two characters,” said Johnston. “It’s a sort of banter with joy and energy. Once the story broke and it came out, it just flowed like music.”
He completed a 45-minute version of the script in time for Touchstone’s deadline in January. In March, he received an email from Roy Surette, the theatre company’s longtime artistic director. “I was surprised and shocked,” recalled Johnston, upon learning of his win.
The award provides funding for development of new comedic work. Johnston organized a reading workshop in Vancouver among his friends and expanded the play’s duration to a full hour.
The Oct. 20 presentation — part of the Off the Page play-reading series — will feature Vancouver actor Adam Weaver (one of Johnston’s fellow Studio 57 graduates) and Sunshine Coast performer Peter Gray, who appeared as Demetrius in July’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Rockwood Pavilion. Johnston will make his inaugural trip to Gibsons to attend the reading.
During his story’s evolution, Johnston used wedding rituals as both comedic fodder and the spark of relationship angst — both queer and otherwise. “As the play goes on,” he said, “it starts really delving into themes of loneliness and what it means when other people change and you don’t, or some combination of growing apart and coming back together, whether you push people away or pull people in.”
His own observations at weddings and past relationships were woven into the story. “I think it’d be dishonest to not use every part of yourself in your writing, because you’re the one who’s bringing the experiences to the table,” he added.
Johnston plans to use the Off the Page reading as a living experiment to determine whether the plot demands a second act, and how best to pitch a future fully-staged production.
The reading of Tuxedos by David Johnston takes place on Sunday, Oct. 20 at 1 p.m. at the Heritage Playhouse in Gibsons. Admission is by donation (minimum $10 suggested) at the door.
