"Brilliant." "Disturbing." "Unapologetically naked." Just some of the adjectives critics have used to describe the work of C. E. Gatchalian. Collected in this volume are three of the plays that have put Gatchalian on the map as one of Canada's most daring and distinctive young playwrights.

Crossing explores the tormented, sexually charged relationship between a mother and her teenage son, bound together by guilt and fear over a horrific incident that occurred ten years prior. Diamond is an elliptical, metatheatrical dissection of one woman's intimate story. Ticks is the frantic, metronome-accompanied monologue of a self-appointed, disease-stricken messiah, eager to bring a plague upon the city.

"C. E. Gatchalian's ambitions lie far beyond those of ordinary playwrights penning nice narratives. Crossing is far from nice and Gatchalian is far from ordinary. ...the net effect is one of shock and awe."

—Vancouver Sun