''Nothing Sacred'' is a play by

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

playwright George F. Walker, written as a stage adaptation of

Ivan Turgenev Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (; rus, links=no, Ива́н Серге́евич Турге́невIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; 9 November 1818 – 3 September 1883 (Old Style dat ...

's 1862 novel '' Fathers and Sons''."Refracting Russia Through the Present". ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and f ...

'', October 23, 1992. The play received its first production at

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

's CentreStage in the 1987-88 season, under the direction of

Bill Glassco William Grant Glassco, (August 30, 1935 – September 13, 2004) was a Canadian theatre director, producer, translator and founder of Toronto's Tarragon Theatre. Born in Quebec City, Quebec, he studied at the University of Toronto, Princeton ...

."Riley finds gold after Chasing Rainbows". ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', January 8, 1988. The original cast included

Michael Riley Michael Riley (born February 4, 1962) is a Canadian actor. From 1998 to 2000, he portrayed Brett Parker in ''Power Play''. He has acted in over 40 films and television series, including '' This Is Wonderland'', for which he received a Gemini Awa ...

as Arkady, Robert Bockstael as Bazarov, David Fox as Nikolai,

Richard Monette Richard Jean Monette CM, DHum, LLD (June 19, 1944 – September 9, 2008), was a Canadian actor and director, best known for his 14-season tenure as the longest-serving artistic director of the Stratford Festival of Canada from 1994 to 2007. Ear ...

as Pavel,

Peter Blais Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

as Viktor,

Diane D'Aquila Diane D'Aquila (born October 23, 1952) is an American-Canadian actress. She has appeared in both television and film roles, but is best known for her stage appearances at the Stratford Festival. Early life Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, D'Aquil ...

as Anna and

Beverley Cooper Beverley Cooper is a Canadian actor, director, dramaturg, and playwright who works in film, radio, television, and theatre. Acting Cooper trained in acting and graduated from Studio 58 in Vancouver in 1979. In 1982, ''Toronto Star'' critic Gina M ...

as Fedosya. The play was published in book form by

Coach House Press Coach House Books is an independent book publishing company located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Coach House publishes experimental poetry, fiction, drama and non-fiction. The press is particularly interested in writing that pushes at the boundar ...

in 1988. It won the

Governor General's Award for English-language drama The Governor General's Award for English-language drama honours excellence in Canadian English-language playwriting. The award was created in 1981 when the Governor General's Award for English-language poetry or drama was divided. Because the awar ...

at the 1988 Governor General's Awards, the 1988

Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play The Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play is an annual award celebrating achievements in Toronto theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to prese ...

,Ray Conlogue, "Walker's Nothing Sacred collects four Dora awards". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', June 15, 1988. and the 1989

Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award The Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award was a Canadian literary award given to Canadian plays produced by any professional Canadian theatre company, and having performances in the Toronto area. The prize had a monetary value of $25,000, and wa ...

. The production also won

Dora Mavor Moore Awards The Dora Mavor Moore Award (also known as the Dora Award) is an award presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts which honours theatre, Dance in Canada, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after Dora Mavor Moore, ...

for Outstanding Production (Bill Glassco), Outstanding Costume Design (Mary Kerr) and Outstanding Set Design (Kerr). It had garnered nine Dora nominations overall, including acting nods for Riley, D'Aquila and Blais. It was also one of Walker's most widely produced plays in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

,"Regional Theater Finds a Winner : 'Nothing Sacred' Is the Play of the Year Although It's Never Received the Broadway Stamp of Approval"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', October 16, 1988. with productions in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in the 1988-89 season alone. The Los Angeles production, at the

Mark Taper Forum The Mark Taper Forum is a 739-seat thrust stage at the Los Angeles Music Center designed by Welton Becket and Associates on the Bunker Hill section of Downtown Los Angeles. Named for real estate developer Mark Taper, the Forum, the neighboring ...

, included

Tom Hulce Thomas Edward Hulce (; born December 6, 1953) is an American actor and theater producer. He is best known for his portrayal of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the Academy Award-winning film ''Amadeus'' (1984), as well as the roles of Larry "Pinto" Kr ...

in its cast; a 1992 production at the

Atlantic Theater Company Atlantic Theater Company is an Off-Broadway non-profit theater, whose mission is to produce great plays "simply and truthfully utilizing an artistic ensemble." The company was founded in 1985 by David Mamet, William H. Macy, and 30 of their actin ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

included

Larry Bryggman Larry Bryggman (born December 21, 1938) is an American actor. He is known for ''Spy Game'' (2001), ''Die Hard: With a Vengeance'' (1995) and ''As the World Turns'' (1956). Early life Bryggman was born in Concord, California on December 21, 1938 ...

. A revival of the play was staged at Toronto's

Winter Garden Theatre The Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre at 1634 Broadway in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It opened in 1911 under designs by architect William Albert Swasey. The Winter Garden's current design dates to 1922, when ...

in 1994, with its cast including

Eric Peterson Eric Neal Peterson (born October 2, 1946) is a Canadian stage, television, and film actor, known for his roles in three major Canadian series – '' Street Legal'' (1987–1994), '' Corner Gas'' (2004–2009), and '' This is Wonderland'' ...

Sonja Smits Sonja Smits (born September 8, 1958) is a Canadian actress. She was nominated for two Genie Awards: for ''Videodrome'' (1983) and '' That's My Baby!'' (1984). On television, she starred in '' Street Legal'' (1987-1992) and '' Traders'' (1996-2000) ...

, Michael Hogan, Michael McManus,

and Patrick Gallagher. This production was later filmed as a

television movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

, which aired on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

in 1995 with virtually the same cast.Greg Quill, "CBC fails in its attempt to bring stage drama to TV". ''

'', December 29, 1995.

References

External links

* {{Governor General's English drama, state=collapsed Governor General's Award-winning plays Plays by George F. Walker 1995 television films 1995 films Canadian plays adapted into films CBC Television original films 1987 plays Adaptations of works by Ivan Turgenev Plays based on novels Dora Mavor Moore Award-winning plays Canadian drama television films Coach House Press books 1990s Canadian films