Director's Note for Forms of Devotion....now playing at the Baby Grand Theatre in Kingston....Sept. 25-Oct.10

I first met Diane Schoemperlen back in the mid 90's when Threshold Theatre was based in Kingston. I loved the down to earth characters, rich imagination and innovative style of her wonderful first novel, In The Language of Love, and contacted her to see if we could get permission to adapt it into a play. She said yes and that show went on to very successful runs in Kingston and Toronto. When her subsequent book of stories, Forms of Devotion, came out I was blown away by its inventiveness, humour, sensuality, and multi-layered take on the 'faithful vs. the faithless'.

Threshold's Forms of Devotion mixes selected texts from Diane's stories with our responses to the themes of faith, doubt, fear, longing, and hope, through the lens of a contemporary couple. Our aim has been to capture the spirit of the book while creating a performance that has it's own theatrical life and emotional logic. Throughout the process, I have been guided by the quote Diane provides at the beginning of her first story: "Strangely enough, we are all seeking a form of devotion that fits our sense of wonder." I hope that there are scenes, images, moments in the piece which speak to you. My sincere thanks go out to the entire creative team who contributed to and collaborated on the adaptation every step of the way.

Mark Cassidy