About the Play:

Winner of the 1997 Governor General's Award for Drama (Canadian equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize)

fareWel has become a favourite of acting teachers for Female Monologues and Female/Female Scenes.

fareWel is a full-length dark comedy by Ian Ross. Set on a reserve in the Interlake region north of Winnipeg, the play imagines what happens when the town's welfare – or fareWel – cheques stop coming.

fareWel is a gritty portrayal of life on a Manitoba reserve. Life is tense on the Partridge Crop Reserve. The Chief is off in Las Vegas (again). Money is running out and the band is in receivership. And now that the welfare cheques have gone missing, the people of this fictional First Nation, in particular the women, make an attempt to take control of their lives, and the reserve's local pawnshop owner wants to unilaterally declare self-government. It all falls apart when the Chief comes home in a new Cadillac, and hands out the missing welfare cheques. fareWel is a raw and funny look at a group of ordinary people tackling some extraordinarily big issues.

FareWel premiered in 1996 at Prairie Theatre Exchange in Winnipeg, Manitoba and won the 1997 Governor-General's Award for his English drama. It was his first professional mainstage production, and was remounted in 1998 before touring First Nations communities in northern Manitoba. A national tour included productions at the Great Canadian Theatre Company in Ottawa, the Factory Theatre in Toronto and Firehall Arts Centre in Vancouver. The Prairie Theatre Exchange production of fareWel was invited to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2001. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops.

Cast: 2 female, 4 male

What people say:

"…unique, entertaining and thought-provoking." — Winnipeg Sun

"…uses a strong and original dramatic voice to depict painful and sometimes outrageous circumstances all the while preserving the dignity and integrity of his characters. Finally, it is very, very funny." — The Governor General's Awards jury

About the Playwright:

Ian Ross (1968-2025) a well-known Métis-Ojibway playwright, actor, storyteller, and educator who taught theatre at both the University of Winnipeg and the University of Manitoba. He was the first Indigenous playwright to win the Governor-General's Award for English Drama, for fareWel, which also won two major Manitoba awards, and has been shown at venues throughout Canada as well as at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He was also well known for creating the character "Joe from Winnipeg," who appeared in segments he wrote and performed on CBC Radio and TV in the 1990s.