About the Play:

The Living is a full-length drama by Colleen Wagner. This dark and poignant play depicts a small, non-specific agrarian village trying to recover after a horrific civil war and genocide has turned neighbouring ethnic groups against each other. Inspired by the actual stories of women and girls who survived trauma in post-conflict zones The Living asks: How do you forgive the unforgivable?

The Living examines the lives of victims and perpetrators, post-genocide, who live side-by-side in government-issued housing, as well as the role of NGO-funded campaigns. Jacqui and Jean-Baptiste have known each other since primary school. Jean-Baptiste rescued Jacqui during the genocide but was part of the mob that killed her father and brother. By means of theatrical fiction, documentary work, and re-enactment, The Living is a powerful and unsettling documentary by Colleen Wagner, author of the Governor General's Literary Award-winning play The Monument, that provides a creative path toward reconciliation, in hopes that the impossible act of forgiveness can end the cycle of revenge.

The Living premiered in 2015 at the Theatre Centre in Toronto during the SummerWorks Festival and won the NOW Magazine Audience Choice Award. The premiere production was done with diverse casting to represent the many genocides past and present.

Cast: 7 female, 3 male

What people say:

"It's a hard-hitting anatomy of the social wreckage following ethnic cleansing that could be applied to numerous instances, historic and present-day." — NOW Magazine

"...an intense and ultimately cathartic exploration of loss, hatred, forgiveness, and the ghosts of guilt and atrocity… a moving, even raw atmosphere." — Torontoist

"...was most impressed by was Wagner's strong portrayal of women in crises." — Mooney on Theatre

About the Playwright:

Colleen Wagner is a Canadian playwright, film script and short fiction writer. Her first stage play, Sand, was shortlisted for best international play at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, England, in 1989. She won the 1996 Governor General's Literary Award for Drama for her play The Monument, which was also nominated for a Dora Award. She currently teaches at York University in the Film Department.