Another example of media long lost during the early writing days. This one goes all the way back to 2006! Robin was an actor, briefly, and it made him realize how much he preferred to be behind the scenes. The attention on him just skyrocketed his anxiety, but he had an awesome time doing character work in performing Howie Newsome, Sam Craig and a rooser in Mercury Theatre's production of Our Town, directed by Brad Rudy. Robin liked spending time in the basement of the theatre, and looking at the props and wardrobe. It was a lovely little space, sort of a converted church in St Marys, Ontario (where he'll later return to do Ruby in the Dust).  

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He had a little script he wanted to have read. He met the lovely Douglas Chamberlain as a child actor at Stratford doing Inherit the Wind in 2001, and Dougie returned to be featured in Our Town. Because of his jovial, humorous, almost Winnie the Pooh quality of an older guy, Robin realized he was perfect for the character Roy, an elderly blue collar widow taking perhaps his final romantic shot with his neighbour. Mercury Theatre's head honcho John Leberg greenlit a reading on a sunny afternoon, and they cobbled together a couple other actors: Lally Cadeau to play the neighbour Helen, and Jeffrey Wetsch playing Adam. Robin's friend Lindsay McMahon came in from Toronto to play Helen's daughter Jennifer, a teenage mom. Of course, Robin was still green as a writer, but received a lot of encouragement to keep developing.  The title was originally called "Helen and Roy", but Lindsay kept jokingly calling it "Helen of Roy" until it stuck. So does it properly reference the Greek mythology? Who cares right now. 

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Sometimes things take a couple decades. Robin always wanted to do a romantic play of sorts, but he decided to combine it with his other idea: a prequel to Home for Boys featuring PJ's mom at his age, fifteen years earlier. So it was time to create another period piece. 

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1981. Hellie O'Riordan lives with her precocious and spirited daughter Mary Catherine (MC). Living off of her ex-husband's alimony and unemployment checks, they begin connecting with their neighbour, an older exterminator named Roy. Hellie's pretentiousness alienates MC, who discovers the local punk rock scene and falls in love with the music - and attracts the attention of a younger blue collar teddybear of a guy named Roy, himself a lonely widower at 48.

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As MC's naivete gets her involved in things beyond her years, Hellie learns to confide in Roy as they both long for connection, despite their longing for their past loves (Hellie being dumped, Roy a widower). When MC trips on a drug called "hopscotch", she meets her unborn son speaking from the stars, and keeps abusing the hallucinogen in hopes of seeing her child again. The only problem is that MC has become pregnant somehow, from one of the older guys in the scene.

 

Hellie finds solace in Roy's company while trying to mother another mother in training, though it tears at her:  Hellie waited until she was 45 to become a mother. Will their fractured bond heal in time for the baby's arrival?