About the Play:

Wanted is a full-length drama by Sally Clark. A young woman is thrown upon the mercy of two brothers when her companions drown in the Whitehorse Rapids in 1897. A delicate balance is upset and a series of events is set in motion that will be felt all the way down the river. Who will survive and who will founder when new rules tip the balance again in Dawson? Wanted is a story of challenge, survival, love, and revenge during the Klondike gold rush.

Wanted is the story of Mary Potter, travelling north to answer a prospector's classified ad looking for a wife. When her boat sinks, she's rescued by two half-brothers and a love triangle develops. It is 1897, and news of gold discoveries has spurred a frantic rush of miners to cash in on the riches rumoured to be found during the second wave of the Klondike Gold Rush. But by the time the money-mad prospectors arrive in Dawson City, all the claims have been staked. The shine of infatuation wears off and Mary quickly realizes that with a population of 100 men for every one woman she's even more valuable than gold. Without enough supplies or expertise to endure the harsh conditions of the north, hundreds of lives are devastated by starvation, exhaustion and disease. Desperation sets in over the landscape which ushers in a harsh social climate of chaos, opportunism and competition, with people willing to do literally anything to either survive or find a way out. Very few women joined the scramble, and those that did usually found themselves in high demand as cooks, washers, and objects of entertainment like Diamond Tooth Gertie, doyenne of the dancing girls. Little romance filled the air, and women, independent and strong-willed enough to break free of their traditional social constraints acquired great power over the men who attempted to buy and trade them like the most valuable of commodities. In its celebration of Mary's determination to triumph over all who seek to possess her, Wanted is far more than a period-piece history play. Resonant with echoes of the contemporary global village in which every one and every thing, including body parts and functions, have their cynically and openly advertised price, it is a portrait of raw desire, greed and lust for acquisition stripped of every veneer of civilization and reduced to a confrontation of the will to power in a world utterly indifferent to what is either fair or just.

Wanted premiered in 2003 at the Yukon Arts Centre by Nakai Theatre Ensemble in Whitehorse and toured the Yukon.

Cast: 2 female, 4 male

About the Playwright:

Sally Clark is a critically acclaimed Canadian playwright who was born in Vancouver, where she currently lives. She is best known for her frequently produced play Moo, and has been playwright-in-residence at Theatre Passe Muraille and the Shaw Festival. She is also an accomplished painter, director and filmmaker. Her plays have received a Chalmers Award, two Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations, and a Governor General's Award nomination.