Montreal native Oren Safdie has been cheering for the Canadiens for as long as he can remember. He infuses this love of hockey, and the player he idolized in his youth, into his latest theatrical work Beyond Ken Dryden. I get to talk to Oren about the show, his prolific work on both stage and screen, and about his passion for hockey.

Could you please introduce yourself to my readers and tell us a bit about your role with Beyond Ken Dryden? 

My name is Oren Safdie. I’m originally from Montreal and have worked mostly in the New York theatre world – although, my play, Private Jokes, Public Places did grace the Mainstage at Tarragon Theatre some years back. I am the playwright of this one-person show, Beyond Ken Dryden, which was nominated for Best English Production at last year’s Montreal Fringe Festival. In addition, to writing plays, I write screenplays (my latest, “Lunch Hour” starring Thomas Middleditch and Alan Cumming is due out this year), and I’m presently teaching at Interlochen Center for the Arts in Northern Michigan. 

What was your main inspiration for Beyond Ken Dryden? 

Divorce is a strong theme that runs through a lot of my work, and, ultimately, there’s a part of me that’s always trying to make sense of things if only to clarify the facts for myself – or others whose facts don’t correspond to mine! But this play also came out of my need to show how a wonderful childhood and a difficult childhood can run parallel, and that sometimes you can find support and inspiration from people who aren’t even in your lives. Such was the case with Montreal Goaltender Ken Dryden, who arrived with the Montreal Canadiens in 1971, right when my family was starting to split up. On top of that, the province of Quebec was also threatening to split from Canada, so everything in my world felt like it was coming apart – but not the mighty Montreal Canadiens, who went on to win 6 Stanley Cups in the next 8 years. We were simply the best, and I think that helped a lot of people keep things together during this tumultuous time in Quebec.  French or English, when fans in the Montreal Forum stood up to cheer their players, they couldn’t care less what language they spoke. 

You’ve written rather prolifically for both stage and screen. Do you have a favourite medium to write for? 

Stage 100%. I only write films for the money, or, perhaps, if an idea might present itself that is too large for the stage. But most of my produced films – including my upcoming film “Lunch Hour” starring Thomas Middleditch, Krysta Rodriguez and Alan Cumming, derive from one of my plays – or unproduced plays. I love the pitter-patter of dialogue and the poetry of words more than I appreciate the visual descriptions and stage directions of a film script. I should also say I find the set of a film the most boring and overrated place in the world. The rehearsal space of a theatre on the other hand is pure magic.

The period you’re writing about in Beyond Ken Dryden was very tumultuous for you personally. Does any of that tumult manifest itself in the play? 

Tension / conflict is the bloodline or any good drama or comedy. In some ways that tension is something I carry within me, always – sometimes to my detriment but, at least for writing, a great advantage. I don’t have to go looking for conflict in my plays because all the characters are conflicted, and they’re all in conflict with each other – just like my family! I simply don’t know any other way of writing. Obviously, with Beyond Ken Dryden, I’m going through a lot of personal history in my family, which is ripe with tension, and the main character – Me! – is often caught in the middle. Hockey – and the Montreal Canadiens act as an escape, and probably serve the play well, because nobody wants to listen to a bunch of characters fighting for more than a few minutes. 

What do you hope audiences take away from Beyond Ken Dryden? 

At its heart, Beyond Ken Dryden is my own love letter to the sport of hockey, the Montreal Canadiens, and all that goes with being a hockey fan. It talks about more than just the game, but the personal stories – like your grandfather taking you to your first hockey game and getting you your first Montreal Forum hot dog — even if he falls asleep at the most important moment of the game.  I try and show how things like collecting hockey cards and getting autographs is a way for kids to connect, and that those connections are quite important in social development when everything else has become disjointed. And I talk about how the game unifies us through division, gives us all a sense of collective common unity, and how the sport offers lessons about not giving up or taking a chance on somebody who might not have experience, or karma will come back at you and half a dozen other things like that. So, yes, this is about a family coming apart, but it’s also about a game that sustained me in hard times, and probably does for a lot of other people – even if their team isn’t winning a Stanley Cup almost every year.

I want to thank Oren for taking time out of his schedule to answer my questions. Beyond Ken Dryden runs at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts until June 1. For more information and tickets, visit: https://www.youngcentre.ca/performances//performances/beyond-ken-dryden

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