World War II veteran Hank Dunfield is about to turn one hundred years old. The staff at Ponderosa Pine Lodge have recruited Sarah, a young nursing student, to keep Hank safe, comfortable, and in the building while they plan a grand centenarian celebration. There’s one problem: Hank doesn’t want to live that long.

Seemingly opposites, Hank and Sarah kindle a deep friendship. Sarah fears the future with multiple sclerosis will be even more isolated, difficult, and painful than the isolated, difficult, and painful present. Hank, a tail gunner during the Second World War, opens his heart to share the deep knowledge of fear, luck, and flying into battle he learned over his. combat missions. Sarah and Hank find strength in each other as they face their deepest fears.

Based on interviews with veterans in Alberta seniors’ homes and the skilled nurses who care for them, Flight Risk is the story of finding exactly who you need when you least expect it. An empathetic exploration of grief, friendship, and hope, this play asks what we lose when we ignore the knowledge of our elderly, challenges the way that we think about aging and death, and inspires a brighter, more compassionate future.

Meg Braems plays have won the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama at the Alberta Literary Awards and the Alberta Playwriting Competition, and Blood: A Scientific Romance was nominated for a Governor Generals Literary Award for Drama. Her work has been presented at the Citadel Theatre, Theatre Calgary, Lunchbox Theatre, the Belfry Theatre, Sage Theatre, Sparrow & Finch Theatre, Theatre Transit, Atomic Vaudeville, and Intrepid Theatre. She is a past member of the Citadel Playwrights Forum and was a playwright-in-residence at Workshop West Playwrights Theatre. Her next book, Feminist Resistance: A Graphic Approach (co-authored with Norah Bowman and Domique Hui), will be published by University of Toronto Press in 2019. Meg currently divides her time between Edmonton as the Lee Playwright in Residence at the University of Alberta and Calgary as the co-director of the Alberta Theatre Projects Playwrights Unit.

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David B. Hogan is the academic lead of the Brenda Strafford Centre on Aging, a specialist in internal medicine, and a sub-specialist in geriatric medicine. He has held the Brenda Strafford Foundation Chair in Geriatric Medicine at the University of Calgary for twenty-five years.

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Meg has an ingenious ability to blend humour with sadness. A wonderful play to see.

R. Douglas Francis, University of Calgary

Offers chuckles and insights in abundance

Louis B. Hobson, Calgary Herald

A lovely story takes flight

Jenna Shummoogum, getdown.ca

Just an all-round winner

Ann Connors, High Performance Rodeo

A frank and thoughtful work that deserves to be both read and staged widely.

Literary Review of Canada