Julius Rothstein and his granddaughter Abby have loved each other from opposite ends of Canada since Abby was born. But now, accepted as a freshman student at the university where Julius teaches, Abby is moving in with him to be close to school and to keep her newly widowed grandfather company. The two must negotiate a new relationship as housemates and friends, which means dealing with issues of youth and age, work and play, activism and apathy, homework and heart attacks, and those three tricky topics: sex, politics, and religion.

John Lazarus grew up in Montreal, graduated from the National Theatre School's Acting program in 1969, and then worked in Vancouver as an actor, advertising copywriter, TV and radio broadcaster, critic, screenwriter, playwright and teacher. He taught Playwriting and Solo Show Techniques for 10 years at Vancouver's Studio 58, and in 2000 moved to Kingston, where he taught over 2,500 drama students at Queen's University, until retiring in 2021. John's own plays, produced across Canada and around the world, include Babel Rap, Dreaming and Duelling, Village of Idiots, The Late Blumer, Homework & Curtains, Genuine Fakes, The Nightingale, Medea's Disgust, Rough Magic, Trouble on Dibble Street, The Grandkid, and his series of plays for children, published under the title Not So Dumb. He lives in Kingston with his wife, Lin, and they have children and grandchildren in Toronto and Vancouver.

John Lazarus' profile page

"The Grandkid is a superb play; it should be an annual Christmas classic in every Jewish theatre in the country. (Feel free to substitute Hanukkah for Christmas if you wish. )"

Wayne Grady, author of Emancipation Day

"The Grandkid is undeniably charming in a Mordecai Richler sort of way. But John Lazarus is also witty and thoughtful and intelligent and he looks at the unique relationship between grandfather and granddaughter with tremendous honesty, generosity, and wry humour."

Jo Ledingham

"The Grandkid bridges the generation gap with wisdom, wit, and warmth."

Mark Leiren-Young, winner of the Leacock Medal for Humour