About the Play:

Finalist for the 2022 Governor General's Literary Award for drama (Canadian equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize)

Inheritance: a pick-the-path experience is a full-length drama by Daniel Arnold, Medina Hahn, and Darrell Dennis. A remote property is up for grabs. Three people race to claim it. Will it go to visiting urban couple Abbey and Noah? Or will it go to a local Indigenous man who is living on the property?

Inheritance dramatizes the difficulties of reconciliation and puts the audience in the middle of the negotiations. Set on a vast, rural estate, urban couple Abbey and Noah are on a week-long getaway to visit her father. When they arrive, they find him missing and a local Indigenous man, Frank, staying there instead. They ask him to leave … When it's revealed that the colonial property rights to this land were never legally ceded through a treaty and are up for grabs, the audience – with anonymous voting devices in hand – decides what happens next and who, if anyone, is the rightful inheritor of the land. With humour, suspense, and a race against time, Inheritance is an interactive stage play – with over fifty possible variations – that puts the power in the palms of its audiences, giving them both the freedom and the responsibility to choose the action of the play. At key moments, the play is halted, multiple plot choices are projected on screen, and the audience picks the path the play takes next to ultimately decide its outcome.

Replete with additional material, this unique book includes insightful forewords by President of the Haida Nation Miles Richardson and environmentalist David Suzuki, a brief history of the Secwépemc People, a detailed study guide for students and teachers, and an interview with the co-creators.

Inheritance premiered in 2020 at Annex Theatre in Vancouver. It was developed in community partnership with the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre and in collaboration with an advisory council which includes members of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and səˈxwɛpməx (Secwepemc) First Nations.

Cast: 1 female, 2 male

What people say:

"Inheritance is what theatre should be. It breaks boundaries, embraces new technology … It is excellent. It should be required viewing. See it, ask questions, and enjoy the beauty of these incredible artists along the way." — Vancouver Presents

"The creative team is definitely onto something … digs into land claims and entitlement in engaging new ways, using a lively mix of humour and interactive technology to work through heavy concepts. Viewers go out into the night with the knowledge that land issues will never be solved with an easy click of the button. And more importantly, with plenty to think about their own role in the matter." — The Georgia Straight

About the Playwright:

Daniel Arnold is a Canadian actor, writer and producer for both stage and screen who has won multiple awards, including as a protégé recipient of the The Siminovitch Prize alongside his frequent collaborator, Medina Hahn. He lives in Vancouver.

Medina Hahn is a Canadian actor, singer, writer and producer who has won multiple awards including as a protégé recipient of the The Siminovitch Prize alongside her collaborator Daniel Arnold. She lives in Vancouver.

Darrell Dennis is a First Nations playwright and television writer from the Shuswap Nation in the interior of British Columbia. For four years he also produced and co-hosted the CBC Radio One doc series ReVision Quest. He currently lives in Los Angeles.