Created by Cory Siddall

Under a warm, late spring dawn, two sulkies drive at a pace that is growing ever faster. Their

drivers, Deanne Milne and Matt Harrington, respond to the adrenalin rush with calm determination, while spectators along the parade shout encouragement. There is something there between the drivers that is more than co-workers competing for their employer’s favour.

This is the usual morning routine at the training track at the “CHARIOTEERS’ STABLE”. It is here that patriarch, Zebadiah (Zeb) Thomas’ family, and employees gather to test themselves and their select stock against the elements. Veterinarian ‘Doc’ Aloysius “Lewis” Calder treats four legged and bipedal patients with the same care and consistency. He is the only medical man within ten miles of the stables and the surrounding town. Trainer Davis Clarke, a Blackman and the family’s trusted and skilled Farrier, is also head trainer. Davis works the drivers and stock in readiness for the coming battles that happen on the tracks and courses of Country and Nations, while living in absentia from his wife and children. They reside away from the stables in a area settled by runaway slaves during the end of the last century. It may have been a while back, but the long shadow of prejudice still prevails in the region where the stables are situated. They compete against a caste of ever changing characters and regular rivals, like Silas Warner, Nate Phillips, Nobby Jones, Jim Ryder, and Walter Cummer, amongst others. Some competitors and neighbours are liberal in their views, others are stuck in a racist culture, where even being of the ‘wrong’ religion will get a person into difficulty. It is against this backdrop that the stories occur and the cast compete for the stakes that give them their livings.

Zeb and his wife, Virginia ‘Mother’ Thomas, along with their five children, Milo, Clarence (Clare), Elizabeth (Bessy), Ollie, and George, and their families, work diligently to overcome their opposition, and build the family business and the Charioteers’ Stable pride and reputation. They are aided in overcoming adversities by ‘Doc’ and Davis. Meanwhile little dramas of the heart play out amongst their children and the staff on the station Other storylines follow the conflicts between the Thomas’ and the various neighbours and competitors over who will win the competitions, or breed the best stock, ‘cause that is money! Then there are the interpersonal stories of the family and their love lives. An example is the ongoing story of Ollie and his ‘secret’ girlfriend, Electa-T. She’s not kept a secret because she is Black, it is because she is a jazz singer in a night club across the river, in Detroit.

The audience gets caught up in the lives, stories and hijinks of their private lives and as they take part in competitions near and far, to win purses for their businesses and build their wealth.

For more information on ‘Charioteers’ contact Cory Siddall at [email protected], or at +1 416 294-4766.