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    ISBN: 9780889223752 | Paperback

    128 pages | Pub. Date: 19970101
    6.00 W × 9.00 H × 0.35 D inches
    Backlist | Drama | Bisac: DRA013000
    Rights: WORLD

In the autumn of 1990, during Operation Desert Storm, two young men, one a troubled Canadian soldier, the other a teenage Palestinian black-marketeer, meet in the scorched Qatari desert. Breaching the divide of a profound cultural misunderstanding and against a backdrop of massive global conflict, these two become unlikely and secret friends. This tenuous friendship is severed by the torture and murder of the 16-year-old Palestinian inside the Canadian base—an act to which the Canadian soldier was at least a witness and perhaps a willing participant.

Weaving poetic drama with myriad documentary sources, A Line in the Sand rips the benevolent mask off recent western peacekeeping operations and challenges Canada’s long treasured national mythology that it is a nation of quiet diplomats. It asks us to imagine how horrors like these could be perpetrated with our money, in our name and by people much like us.

Cast of 3 to 5 men.

Winner 2009 MECCA Awards

Winner 2010 MECCA Award

"Verdecchia and Youssef pull off the tricky task of crafting a complex interpersonal drama that is also a potent allegory."
- Toronto Star

Winner of 3 MECCA Awards (2009-2010)
Winner of the 1997 Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award

By Guillermo Verdecchia

Guillermo Verdecchia is a writer of drama, fiction, and film; a director, dramaturge, actor, and translator whose work has been seen and heard on stages, screens, and radios across the country and around the globe. He is a recipient of the Governor General’s Award for Drama, a four-time winner of the Chalmers Canadian Play Award, a recipient of Dora and Jessie Awards, and sundry film festival awards for his film Crucero/Crossroads.

Read more about Guillermo Verdecchia


news | 2017-11-07
Marcus Youssef wins the Siminovitch Prize!

…Plays he’s written and cowritten include Jabber , A Line in the Sand , Adrift , two Ali & Ali plays, and Winners …


news | 2017-09-26
Marcus Youssef nominated for Siminovitch Prize!

…plays he’s written and cowritten include Jabber , A Line in the Sand , Adrift , two Ali & Ali plays, and Winners …


news | 2016-01-25
No fewer than nine Talon plays on stage across Canada this spring!

…Ontario (February–March). Tickets available here. A Line in the Sand, co-written by Guillermo Verdecchia and Marcus …


news | 2016-01-15
Two Talon classics at Toronto’s Factory Theatre this spring!

…Salt Water Moon (directed by Ravi Jain), and A Line in the Sand by Guillermo Verdecchia and Marcus Youssef – both …