David Haas Playwright Crazy Train Edmonton Fringe

Read about some of my produced plays: Wolfman Crossing Pacific Time A Health Unto Her Majesty
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DAVID HAAS
PLAYWRIGHT

Playwrights Guild of Canada
Alberta Playwrights Network
Writers Guild of Alberta

MY UPCOMING PLAY
CRAZY TRAIN
At the 36th Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival
August 17 - 27, 2017

An official investigation into an undoubted case of severe child abuse quickly goes awry.

The story begins after a rookie police officer encounters a nearly four year old boy wandering lost, and discovers fading bruises over much of the child's body – obviously from a severe beating.
On returning the boy to his home, the officer encounters a hostile, abrasive mother whose explanation he instinctively doubts.
Both parents are plausible suspects in the subsequent investigation: an infantry sergeant-major father with three harrowing combat tours in Afghanistan behind him; a nurse mother burned out by long years at a major hospital emergency ward.
But when police and child protection workers off-handedly dismiss the parents’ explanation that a roving gang of youths attacked their child, are the authorities too eager to lock into a seemingly obvious solution?

An experienced police detective works patiently to find her way through a complex mesh of evasions, half-truths, and lies – some of which may flow from causes other than guilt. And she is hampered not only by the hostility of the parents, but by pressing factors in her own life which cut close to some of the issues she must deal with in the investigation.

	DIRECTOR AMBER JONES		STAGE MANAGER PAIGE BRENNEIS
	Crazy Train will be directed for the Fringe by Amber Jones, a veteran of Morinville’s Caviar Players since 2005. Amber honed her innate talent for theatre by spending a year in the Rosebud Theatrical School programme.		Another Caviar Players seasoned veteran, Paige has both acted and directed since joining the troupe in 2011. Her introduction to theatre came through taking acting classes in Junior High and High School.

**CAST**

CHRISTINE GOLD as SERGEANT KOSTIUK a seasoned police detective	GLENN BALOMBIN as TRAFFORD the child's father a battle hardened soldier	YANIT TEREFE as SHERRI the child's mother an experienced nurse	PATRICK MICHAUD as CONRAD a young, determined child protection worker
Christine had early designs on becoming an actor but was steered into a “more practical” nursing career. Twenty-five years of that were enough, and after retiring in 2014 and taking acting training she is stepping onto the boards.	With acting workshops from the Foote Theatre School to develop presentation skills, Glenn decided to throw his hat into the ring for this play. But the hat was a beret he used to wear in his soldiering days, giving him insight into the role.	Yanit turned to acting in 2013. Training with the Eldon Anne Foote School of Theatre in theatre and camera prepared her for feature roles in short films, music videos, a web series, television commercials, and videos.	A recent graduate of the University of Alberta, where Patrick earned a Bachelor of Arts degreee in the Drama programme, with a minor in Sociology. Patrick has also expanded his theatrical talents through training with Citadel Theatre.

**SOME BACKGROUND TO THE PLAY**
In a shorter version, Crazy Train was originally written in 2009 as part of my public response to a judge declining to imprison a physically abusive military father because he was suffering from PTSD when attacking his two young sons. If you are interested in reading this story, and some follow-up clarification, click on PTSD gets probation In writing an initial published newspaper column denouncing that decision, and then in writing the play, I drew on the experiences and observations of a lifetime in and around the Canadian Army — I was born into and grew up in a military family, then spent about thirty years soldiering as a regular and reservist. In a civilian career as a lawyer I spent nearly three decades heavily involved with criminal defence work in Canada's court system. If you are interested in reading this column click on *PTSD no excuse* This was the first of five columns I had published up to early 2012 dealing with PTSD and its handling by Canada's military and veterans ministry. Within a few weeks after the initial column appeared I spotted a one-act plays competition for the 2009 St. Albert Festival of the Arts, and wrote Crazy Train. The play was a winning entry and was read aloud to an audience at the festival by a team of actors.

**THINK IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE?**
	When I wrote Crazy Train in 2009 the potential for investigator tunnel vision was an integral theme. In early 2016 I began an overhaul of the play with a view to entering it in the 2017 Fringe. Not long into this revision I had the disquieting experience of opening a newspaper one day and spotting an account of a recent actual Edmonton court case. Charges had been dropped against a couple of parents who had been ground through the legal mill for TWO YEARS in a prosecution for harming their infant son. Their defence counsel raked the investigators for tunnel vision.

The play was to have been read out before an audience at an Edmonton Script Salon on October 2, 2016. The play readers were Michelle Flieger, Doug Mertz, Liana Shannon and Luc Tellier.

Unfortunately the reading had to be terminated after only a third of the work had been read.

A respiratory system attacking substance entered the building. The audience, the cast, and the organizers broke out in compulsive coughing. The building was evacuated after the fire department was called. The intrusive agent was never definitely identified, though pepper spray was suspected, but fortunately appears to have had no lasting impact.

The play was read through to its conclusion at a special Script Salon on November 20. Sharla Matkin replaced Liana Shannon, and Andy Northrup replaced Doug Mertz.