ICEMEN

A wealthy businessman wakes up bound and gagged in a utility shed, kidnapped by his own employees—brothers and icemen Joe and Rennie. In the midst of the Great Depression, the brothers’ ice harvesting livelihood in Kempenfelt Bay is melting away due to the advent of refrigeration, only to further line the pockets of their employers. Desperate to claim what is rightfully theirs, these honest workers turned reluctant captors will stop at nothing to bring their greedy boss to a final reckoning. ICEMEN by Governor General’s Literary Award–winning playwright Vern Thiessen is an edge-of-your-seat thriller that exposes the human cost of capitalism and asks, when the wealthy exploit the working class, who are the real criminals?

• Vern Thiessen was commissioned by Theatre by the Bay to write about the Barrie area. Vern researched and chose to write about the ice harvesting industry that was disrupted during the Great Depression because of the advent of refrigeration.
• ICEMEN was commissioned and first produced by Theatre By The Bay at Five Points Theatre in Barrie, Ontario, on November 2, 2023.