Finding the Heart of a Story

One of the many benefits of supporting performance, creation and learning across Canada though the National Arts Centre Foundation is having the opportunity to attend donor pre-chats to listen to artists discuss their craft first-hand. On Thursday, March 22, 2018, playwright David Yee discussed his play carried away on the crest of a wave and answered questions from donors before they attended a preview performance.

Nature is a wonder. It is at times peaceful and soulful, and at others, terrifying. It has inspired, mystified and subjugated human beings since the beginning of our existence. Yee’s play, carried away on the crest of a wave explores one of the most catastrophic natural events of our time—the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami which killed a total of 227,898 people.

After he discovered that a friend survived the tsunami, Yee began research to

create nine vignettes assembled together to form a play that ultimately was a quest to find the heart that lies beneath such a destructive force. Yee confessed that he wrote carried away on the crest of a wave to try to understand the magnitude of what happened. His interviews revealed amazing stories of chance, serendipity and hope. They were stories of loved ones searching for and missing one another by mere hours before ultimately reuniting in the chaotic aftermath—stories that we hear time and time again following tragedies—stories of hope, and heart.

A special thank you to our Open Rehearsal and Preview Sponsor, Rob Marland, Royal LePage Performance Realty who makes these sessions possible for NAC Foundation donors.