Off-Central Players to Present THE DRAWER BOY in St. Petersburg This March

The Off-Central Players will present The Drawer Boy, Michael Healey's quietly devastating and unexpectedly funny play about memory, friendship, and the stories we tell to survive. Performances run March 5th-15th at The Off-Central, St. Pete's intimate 43-seat venue dedicated to bold, actor-driven storytelling.

Set on a remote farm in rural Ontario during the 1970s, The Drawer Boy centers on three men whose carefully balanced lives are disrupted when two young actors arrive to interview them for a research-based theatre project. As questions are asked and stories are shared, long-buried truths rise to the surface, revealing the fragile mechanisms that protect us from pain-and the profound cost of keeping the past locked away. Both tender and sharply funny, The Drawer Boy explores the lasting effects of war, the nature of memory, and the deep human need for connection. The play has been widely celebrated for its emotional precision and compassion, earning the Governor General's Award for Drama.

"This is a story of life-long friendship, loss, sacrifice, and much more", says Director Ami Sallee "At the heart, however, this is a story about how and why we tell stories, the blurred lines between truth, fiction, and storytelling. This play is also about the generation of stoic men who survived the great depression, were voluntold to fight for their country, came home from WWII, and left to deal with their trauma alone. 'Just pull yourselves up by your bootstraps because there's work to be done'".

This intimate production will be staged in immersive 43-seat black box theatre the Off-Central Players call home, drawing the audience into Doug and Kayleen's world and emphasizing the immediacy of their connection. The production is directed by Ami Sallee¸ one of the most accomplished directors in the Tampa Bay Area. The cast features veteran actors Stephen Riordan as Morgan, Michael Menszycki as Angus, and newcomer Lucas Ethington as Miles.