Feature Script Live Read
Harbourfront Community Center (HCC)
627 Queen’s Quay West Toronto, ON Canada M5V 3G3
Top 3 Winner “Grace”
Written by Jeffrey Allen Russel and Lynda Lemberg (Toronto, Canada)
The Story:
“Grace” is a historical drama of resilience and resistance in the face of personal tragedy, cataclysmic social upheaval and ethnic cleansing. The story unfolds in the early 1800’s, when 13-year-old Grace Mackenzie Russel is whisked away from Scotland to Montreal to begin her journey through womanhood as the wife of a wealthy merchant, a cousin 17 years her senior. As she grapples with the personal challenges of marriage, children, patriarchy, and loss, Grace becomes increasingly concerned with the plight of the poor and exiled. Tragic circumstances force Grace’s return to Scotland where she slowly learns how she is connected to the brutal evictions of tenant farmers. Grace’s quest for social justice brings her in conflict with her family and pits her against tyrannical forces.
The Inspiration:
My father’s company was about to celebrate its 200th anniversary and it was decided that research should be done in Scotland to investigate the roots of the company. A great report was compiled but before the celebration was to take place the company was lost in a hostile takeover. Unfortunate as this may have been, it gave my father an opportunity to transcribe company documents dating back to 1770. From those documents he wrote three books entitled The Russel Journals. When I read them I discovered a story within a short paragraph. It stated that Grace Mackenzie was 13 years old when she married John Russel, a cousin 17 years her senior. On their wedding day they boarded the ship bound for Montréal , where she was to live as a merchant’s wife for the next 20 years. I knew that she had six children, was widowed at the age of 33 and returned to Scotland, where she was married to yet another cousin. Grace lived to be 93 years old. What drew me to Grace’s story was imagining her plight as a child bride.
Lynda and I went to Scotland in April 2012, to do research for the screenplay. During our preparation for the journey, we learned about The Highland Clearances, the ethnic cleansing of the Gaelic people.
While there, the story of “ Grace” took on a broader dimension.
We rested on the banks of Loch Lomond for the last four days of the trip and that is where I began to write. Grace. From there, with Lynda’s editing and her passion for activism, “Grace” quickly took on a life of its own. During the process, Lynda became my co-writer.
What began as three lines in a dry history text has turned out to be a gripping tale of one of the most horrific periods in Scottish history.