Synopsis: “You have cancer” is a statement no one wants to hear from a doctor. “Your treatment will take months” is even worse. When a wife receives unexpected news that her cancer treatment will require months of chemotherapy, radiation, and countless hospital visits, she and her husband search for a way to cope with the emotional weight of the journey.
This 10-minute audio drama for three actors is set entirely inside a car but is really a story about the emotional miles travelled when life suddenly changes for the worse.
The husband proposes an unusual coping strategy: they’ll imagine each hospital drive as part of a cross-Canada road trip, from Gander to Vancouver, one appointment at a time. Over the course of 71 trips to and from hospitals and along seemingly endless hospital corridors, they travel farther west, guided by a calm dashboard GPS voice they name JoAnne. They measure their progress in imaginary kilometres and with the distractions provided by audiobooks, gas stations, and places to eat.
Routine medical journeys become scenes of humour, anxiety, reflection, frustration and grace as they discover that imagination and their senses of humour can make even the hardest journeys bearable. Along the way, they confront hair loss, treatment setbacks, fatigue, unexpected laughter, roadside comforts, and the small victories that sustain them.
As treatments near completion, their imagined journey mirrors their emotional one — not just enduring illness, but discovering how imagination, companionship, and humour can transform hardship into shared adventure. Ten Thousand Kilometres is a road trip through uncertainty, resilience, and love, where the destination matters less than how you travel together.
Now includes an epilogue that reveals what comes after the journey ends.
by Rich Helms
Setting:
Canada – now
for two people and a car GPS
A 10-minute Audio Drama
Characters: Min 2 Max 3:
- HUSBAND
- WIFE
- JOANNE (GPS) – GPS female voice. Speaks as a navigation system. Never adopts a reflective, emotional, or theatrical tone.
Could be prerecorded synthetic speech. The GPS is machine speech so in character.
Setting:
- Canada, today, car interior
Scenes:
- Scene – The News – March 11
- Scene – Drive 9 – The GPS – March 28
- Scene – Drive 16 – Hair – May 13
- Scene – Drive 19 – PICC Line – May 22
- Scene – Drive 24 – Weight Gain – June 12
- Scene – Drive 30 – Radiation Day – July 8
- Scene – Drive 40 – It’s About the Dogs – July 22
- Scene – Drive 68 – Ring the Bell – Oct 27
- Scene – Drive 78 – Epilogue – March 2
- Scene – Drive 84 – Coming Out – April 30
Director Notes:
- Each scene is a car trip. Each scene begins with a consistent “GPS log” ritual:
- Sound cue → JoAnne voice → Journey data → Scene begins
- Then add seat belt clicks
- The original version of this play was written as a stage play with two actors, 2 chairs and a voice over for JoAnne. The actors sit in the chairs for the seats in a car.
- In a stage play adaptation the actors could buckle in by attaching a 3-point seat belt to the chairs. The distinctive click would signal start of a scene.
