"The Pessimist" introduces us to a motley troupe of artists: Marcus, a dying theatre director, his wife, a playwright, a wanna ndash;be acress, and a neophyts politician join forces to stage a play in the garbage dump of a small Ontario town. Their rented farmhouse becomes a refuge from reality wher romance, sex, cameraderie, anbd conversation attempt to stave off the inevitable. This Chekhovian idyll is punctuated by metaphorical zombies, women bearing pies, strange sounds in the night--and suffused with love and loss. A philosophical romantic comedy, "The Pessimist" asks us to consider how we keep living, when life as we know it is ending. "The Pessimist" is a companion piece to Brebner's "The Optimists" (Scirocco Drama, 2006), which was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for Drama.