WCT Show Program | Women of the Fur Trade (25/26 Season) by Western Canada Theatre

WOMEN OF THE FUR TRADE

By FRANCES KONČAN

Directed by RENAE MORRISEAU

An NAC Indigenous Theatre, GCTC, and Native Earth production in association with Touchstone Theatre

CAST

LOIS ANDERSON Cecilia

COLUMPA BOBB Eugenia

KELSEY KANATAN WAVEY Marie-Angelique

JONATHAN FISHER Louis Riel

VICTOR HUNTER Thomas Scott

CREATIVE TEAM

RENAE MORRISEAU Director

LAUCHLIN JOHNSTON* Scenic Designer

VANESSA IMESON Costume Designer

JEFF HARRISON* Lighting Designer

CANDELARIO ANDRADE* Projection Designer

MELISSA JOAKIM Projection Design Assistant

MJ DANDENEAU Sound Designer & Composer

MIQUELON RODRIGUEZ Sound Design Assistant

JACK GOODISON Associate Sound Designer

KAYLEIGH SANDOMIRSKY Production Manager

JOHN KOENSGEN Fight Director

MATT OVIATT Assistant Production Manager

WILLIAM DETTLAFF Technical Director

MELANIE THOMPSON Revival Stage Manager

ELSA ORME

Revival Assistant Stage Manager

Approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes, including a 20 minute intermission.

WCT is proud to tell our stories in the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc territory within the traditional lands of the Secwépemc Nation.

Produced by permission of the Playwright and Marquis Literary (Colin Rivers) www.MQlit.ca Women of the Fur Trade was created and first produced by Vault Projects, an interdisciplinary theatre collective based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with financial support from the Winnipeg Arts Council and the Nellie McClung Foundation Arts Legacy Award. Lindsay Lachance at Playwrights Theatre Centre / Indigenous Theatre, National Arts Centre, Brian Drader at the Manitoba Association of Playwrights, Krista Jackson at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, and Jessica Carmichael at Animikiig Creators Unit with Native Earth provided dramaturgical support. Women of the Fur Trade received its regional premiere at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre (Winnipeg, MB) in 2020, produced in association with Indigenous Theatre, National Arts Centre (Ottawa, ON). The play received further development support from the Stratford Festival in preparation for its 2023 production.

Western Canada Theatre is a member of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT) and engages professional artists who are members of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association under the terms of the jointly negotiated Canadian Theatre Agreement.

* Indicated designers on this production are represented by the Associated Designers of Canada, IATSE Local ADC659.

Season Illustrations: Jennifer Taylor Paravantes • fieldandsea.com

Programme Producer: Western Canada Theatre • wctlive.ca • 250-372-3216

Printer: Wayside Press • waysideco.ca • 250-372-3373

Box Office: Kamloops Live! Box Office • kamloopslive.ca • 250-374-5483

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SPECIAL THANKS

To help ensure a safe and comfortable space for all:

• Stay home if you are ill or have symptoms of COVID 19. If you cannot attend a performance due to illness, please contact our Box Office to arrange a ticket exchange at 250-374-5483 or klbo@kamloopslive.ca.

• Respect the personal space of others and try to maintain 6ft distance when possible.

• Wash your hands and/or use provided hand-sanitizing stations.

For Assistance and Accessibility:

Both the Pavilion and Sagebrush Theatres are wheelchair accessible and equipped with wheelchair-seating locations.

Hearing assist listening systems are available at the Sagebrush Theatre Box Office. We’re here to help. If you require assistance, please ask the House Supervisor or one of the ushers.

In consideration of your fellow audience members’ comfort and enjoyment, we ask the following: Electronic Devices: Please turn off all cellular phones and watch alarms prior to the show. Due to copyright regulations, the use of cameras and other video or audio recording of this performance by any means is strictly prohibited.

Late Arrival and Re-admission: If you arrive after a performance has begun or leave the auditorium during the performance, we will make every effort to seat you at an appropriate interval in the program. Please be advised that this may not be the seat you are ticketed for, depending on its location in the theatre. Once it begins, the performance will be streamed on the screens in the lobby for those who need to step out.

Scent-free Facilities: Please arrive perfume/cologne-free and do not bring flowers into the lobby or theatre.

Children: Some WCT productions are not suitable for children. For specific age recommendations and other advisories, go to wctlive.ca/advisories. Babes in arms are only permitted at Relaxed Performances (wctlive.ca/accessibility).

Welcome back! On behalf of our Executive Director Matt Eger and myself, we are delighted to be joining you all at Sagebrush as we open the 2025/26 Western Canada Theatre season. We have a new team at the helm and a ton of energy and enthusiasm for the road ahead. This season was curated by Matt and the senior WCT staff before I came on board, but I could not be prouder to be representing the work on offer. First out of the gate is a play that I would have programmed myself if I’d had the chance. It first appeared at the Toronto Fringe Festival in 2018, and has been making a big noise across the country since its first full production on the Warehouse stage at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre in 2020. This version is brought to us by the incredible team who created the hugely successful, soldout run at the National Arts Centre in 2024. Frances Končan’s play is a wildly irreverent, satirical re-telling of a controversial piece of the shared history between Canadian settlers and the original people of this land. The story is told from the point of view of three women, one white, one Métis and one Ojibway, gathered together in “a fort”, somewhere on “a Reddish River”, in “eighteen hundred and something-something”. Each of them has great hope and many expectations personally, but limited visibility into the future, and little or no control over how it will unfold. And Rebellion is on the horizon. Women of the Fur Trade is fresh, frank, and very funny. I promise you, you’ve never heard Canadian history told like this before.

Later in the season we’re bringing you that most classic of Canadian classics, Anne of Green Gables, led by director Erin McGrath, and choreographed by Valerie Easton, who played Anne at WCT in 1975! Talk about coming full circle! Then we’ll welcome in the new year with a few new works. Casey and Diana, by Nick Green, one of Canada’s most prolific and talented writers, is a moving story of compassion, grief, and resilience; The Fiancée, by Holly Lewis is a hilarious farce set in post WWII Kamloops about a girl who has to learn the art of saying “no”, so that she can be free to “yes” to the right thing; and finally, Mark Crawford’s The Golden Anniversaries is a beautiful and heartfelt story about a lifetime of love told in 50 years of annual visits to the Golden family cottage. It’s going to be a special “golden anniversary” season for us here at WCT and we look forward to sharing it with you all!

Cheers,

Kelli Fox, Matt Eger, Artistic Director Executive Director

PLAYWRIGHT’S NOTE

When I wrote the first draft of this play, a feedback note I got several times was that there’s nothing interesting about women sitting in a room and talking.

Of course, that draft was written slightly before Miriam Toews’ novel Women Talking — which heavily featured women talking (sometimes near Ben Whishaw) — and well before Greta Gerwig’s Barbie created an entire universe of women who talk (often to each other, sometimes near Ryan Gosling).

Now, Ben Whishaw and/or Ryan Gosling may never star in a production of Women of the Fur Trade (unless...?), and it may never get adapted into a film directed by my childhood hero and living legend Sarah Polley (unless...?), but I like to think this perfectly historically accurate depiction of life during the Fur Trade plays a small part in the growing genre of stories where women sit around and talk.

Sitting around and talking sounds like a small thing. But historically, it’s been pretty important. That’s where things get shared: good news, bad news, secrets, wishes, dreams, hopes, fears, and most of all, stories.

Frances Končan, Playwright

STUDY GUIDE FROM WCT’S HUB FOR CREATIVE LEARNING

Scan the code or go to wctlive.ca/thehub to see a Study Guide, put together by WCT’s Hub For Creative Learning team. These handy guides feature extra information about the shows, their history, the creative teams and themes. These are great for students and curious audience members alike. For educators, there are in-class activities and more.

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

When Treaty One was signed on August 3, 1871, at Lower Fort Gary in what is now called Manitoba. The unthinkable happened, thirty six years later, my family’s community, St. Peters Reserve was forcibly removed by the federal government in 1907. The colonist said we surrendered it. In whatever history you choose to believe, we were scattered and did what we can to find home. My great-grandparents, and grand-parents, continued to live on their traditional territories in and around Selkirk, Manitoba. My mom and dad moved to Winnipeg.

Yup, colonial systems are alive and well here in Canada. Frances Končan’s play, Women of The Fur Trade, gives a satiric voice to this era of “eighteen-something-something” of the Treaty One Territory as it relates to the Metis resistance in the red river settlement.

Frances created a world seen through the eyes of three women, influenced by their Metis, European, and Anishinaabe/Ojibway cultures. In a literal sense, paternalism is shared with them all, but how it’s interpreted is the funny.

Seriously, there is a ‘funny’ in dealing with this era of time. Frances collapsed time with contemporary tropes women experience today.

I’d like to believe art can immerse audiences to worldviews outside their lived experience with the hope for change towards us. In Nêhiyawi/Cree we say, Miyo-Pimatisowin a lot in our ceremonies and prayers. A ‘Good Life’ for all. I mean thats what our Truth and Reconciliation commission of Canada (TRC) is doing, right? The 94 Calls to Action are to address the legacy of the residential school system with its colonial reach in education, law, child welfare, media, health and justice as it relates to Indigenous people today. But let me stress, the TRC is ‘policy recommendations’ with the hope that Canadians will change to understand Canada’s relationship with us, Indigenous, Metis, Inuit people.

Today, when Canadians first learn about the atrocities my ancestors experienced, it can be overwhelming. Many Canadians are doing their due diligence in understanding this dark history of Canada’s formation. Thank you.

I’ll admit when I’m with my family and friends we have oodles of stories about being conduits in helping Canadians understand this history, and we’re kinda tired of being that voice. Sorry, but its true. This is why I love art and Frances’ overall message.

Our resilience and love, our strength comes in laughter. As Canadians and Indigenous peoples who are still processing this history many Indigenous people call the process relational accountability. Seeing a play that bends time, that finds the funny in dealing with reverse racism, white fragility, and the male gaze, Frances creates a world that sees the absurdity of systems we live in, that relates to my peoples daily life.

And on a final note, in 2009, the St. Peters land claim settlement was an agreement for the Peguis First Nation (the reserve created in Treaty 2 they forced us to move to) resolved a century-long dispute over the illegal 1907 surrender of the original St. Peter’s Reserve land in Manitoba.

Yup, as indigenous people, colonialism is still being challenged today.

I hope you enjoy the show.

Renae Morriseau, Director

The hopes you enjoy the show!

BMO Private Wealth is a brand name for a business group consisting of Bank of Montreal and certain of its affiliates in providing private wealth management products and services. “BMO (M-bar roundel symbol)” is a registered trademark of Bank of Montreal, used under licence.

Molly Mcleod

Kim Warner

Andrew Bromley

COMPANY BIOGRAPHIES

LOIS ANDERSON – Cecilia

At WCT: Wit, The Attic, The Pearls & Three Fine Girls, Anouska and Rosa Go to Find the Sun

Elsewhere: Lois Anderson is the Artistic Director of Touchstone Theatre, and an Adjunct Professor at UBC in the Department of Theatre and Film where she teaches acting, Shakespeare, and directing. She won the Jessie Award for Best Direction (Pericles, Bard on the Beach) and the 2019 Critic’s Choice Award for Innovation (Lysistrata). She has worked extensively in Canada and Australia and has been an Artistic Associate with The National Arts Centre most recently directing You Used to Call Me Marie by Tai Amy Grauman. She has won multiple awards for acting including 9 Jessie Richardson Awards, a Betty Mitchell Best Lead Actress Award and a Dublin Theatre Award. Her directing credits include Henry V, Fun Home, Medea, Timothy Findley’s The Wars, Iphigenia at Aulis, CHILDISH, Gertrude and Alice, Taming of the Shrew, My Granny the Goldfish, Buffoon, Behind the Moon. Teaching credits include The Arts Institute, SFU School For Contemporary Arts, UBC and Yukon Arts Center. She is currently working with playwright Tai Amy Grauman on Romeo and Juliet: A Metis Love Story

COLUMPA BOBB – Eugenia

At WCT: Debut

Elsewhere: Columpa C Bobb, Tsleil-Waututh and Sq’ewqel respectively, has been a theatre practitioner for over 37 years: merits include 3 Jessie Richardson Theatre Award nominations and one win. She was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best Actress. Her play Jumping Mouse, co-written with Marion De Vries, was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore award for Best Production, Youth Category. She is a 4 time nominee of the Mayor’s arts Awards, Winnipeg, and Contributions to North American Native Writing, Returning the Gift awards. She toured her oral version of “Raven Steals the Light” throughout Vancouver across Canada, India, Australia, São Paulo Brazil and New Zealand. Her last international show was a Salish oral piece co-created and performed with her late Mom, Siyam Dr. Lee Maracle, OC in Hamilton New Zealand.

KELSEY KANATAN WAVEY – Marie Angelique

At WCT: Debut

Elsewhere: Kelsey is a multi-hyphenate artist currently based in so-called Vancouver. Some of their practices include writing, directing, and singer/ musician. Kelsey was born and raised in Treaty 1, Winnipeg (somewhere nearish or uponish the banks of a red-ish river *wink wink*) and is 5th generation settler of German/British/Norwegian ancestry and is also Muskeg Ininowahk (Swampy Cree). Kelsey is a proud member of Tataskweyak Cree Nation.

The Secret to Good Tea (NAC), Sunrise Betties (Itsazoo), The Rez Sisters (RMTC), In My Day (Zeezee Theatre), The Mixolydian, The Mystics (Greenthumb Theatre), Skyborn (Savage Society), The Hours that Remain (Theatre by the River), The Unnatural and Accidental Women (NAC) Directing: Eyes of the Beast: Climate Disaster Stories (Neworld Theatre), Cerulean Blue (Studio 58) Film and TV: KIN (Sewing Circle Productions)

JONATHAN FISHER – Louis Riel

At WCT: Debut

Elsewhere: is Bear Clan and Anishnabe from the Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory. Selected credits include: Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing (Red Roots Theatre); fareWel (Prairie Theatre Exchange); New France (VideoCabaret); Copper Thunderbird (National Arts Centre); Tales of an Urban Indian (Talk Is Free Theatre); The Rez Sisters (Magnus Theatre); Night (Human Cargo); The Hours That Remain (Magnus Theatre); Elle (Theatre Passe Muiraille); The Berlin Blues and Ipperwash (Blyth Festival); Reckoning (Article 11); This Is How We Got Here (Native Earth/Shaw Festival); The Mush Hole (Kaha:wi Dance Theatre); and White Noise (Firehall Arts Centre); and Rez Gas (Capital Theatre).

VICTOR HUNTER – Thomas Scott

At WCT: Debut

Elsewhere: Victor is a Métis actor from Vancouver, raised in Penticton. His theatre credits include Waitress, Guys & Dolls, Little Shop of Horrors, Kinky Boots (Arts Club), Oliver! (Gateway Theatre); Parade (Raincity Theatre); Matilda: The Musical, Mary Poppins, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Shrek: The Musical (Theatre Under the Stars); Grease, The Piano Teacher (Chemainus Theatre Festival); You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown (Globe Theatre).

Voice acting credits include: Dragalia Lost (Nintendo/Cygames); X-Men: Day of the Sentinels, Zombies, Run! (Six to Start); OVATION! award winner: Outstanding Lead Performance.

He’s also the editor and co-host of the RPG video game podcasts “Axe of the Blood God” and the Final Fantasy XIV-centric “Sharlayan Dropouts” at bloodgodpod.com | @victorehunter, victorhunter.carrd.co

This one’s for Mom, Donna, and Ed

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FRANCES KONČ AN – Playwright

At WCT: Debut

Elsewhere: Frances Končan (she/they) is an Anishinaabe playwright from Couchiching First Nation. She grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba and studied at the University of Manitoba (BA Psychology) and the City University of New York Brooklyn College (MFA Playwriting). Their work has been presented across Canada at theatres such as the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, the National Arts Centre, and the Stratford Festival. She currently resides in Vancouver, B.C. where she is an Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia. Select plays include: Women of the Fur Trade, Space Girl, and zahgidiwin/love

RENAE MORRISEAU – Director

At WCT: The Ecstacy of Rita Joe Elsewhere: Since the 80’s, Renae Morriseau has worked individually and collectively in Indigenous stories in music, theatre, film, and television. Much of her work is about community engaged art; art created with, for, and about the hopes of a good future for Indigenous people on their lands and in the cities of Turtle Island.

Renae is a writer, theatre and television director, singer, and musician. She has worked across Canada and internationally with her singing group, M’Girl. She currently instructs Indigenous Film Studies at Capilano University.

LAUCHLIN JOHNSTON – Scenic Designer

At WCT: Are We Cool Now, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Elsewhere: Lauchlin Johnston (he/him) calls Vancouver home and is grateful to be living today as an uninvited guest on the stolen and unceded lands of the S ḵ wx wú7mesh (Squamish), x ʷmə θ k ʷ əy əm (Musqueam) and səlilwəta ɬ (TsleilWaututh) Nations.

Lauchlin has had the opportunity to collaborate with companies across Canada, and recently designed scenery for the world premiere of Rosanna Deerchild’s The Secret to Good Tea at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg. Other collaborations include Gateway Theatre, Chemainus Theatre Festival, Theatre Under the Stars, Arts Club Theatre, ITSAZOO, Western Canada Theatre, Firehall Arts Centre, Pacific Theatre, Native Earth and Mortal Coil Performance.

Lauchlin is a graduate of UBC holding a BFA in theatre design and production. He has received twenty-two Jessie Richardson Theatre Award nominations and three wins, plus one Ovation Award. Lauchlin is a member of the Associated Designers of Canada and IATSE 659.

VANESSA IMESON – Costume Designer

At WCT: Debut

Elsewhere: Vanessa Imeson is an award-winning Theatre Artist and the 2023 recipient of the Virginia and Myrtle Cooper Award in Costume Design. She holds a combined BA Honours degree in Dramatic Art and English from UofW, MFA in Theatre Design from UBC and diploma for Makeup Design for Film and Television from VFS. She designs costumes, make-up, wigs and puppets for a variety of collegiate programs and professional theatre companies across Canada and the US while simultaneously acting as Head of Wardrobe for the GCTC. The costume design for this production of Women of the Fur Trade was created by blending Victorian silhouettes with elements of contemporary Indigenous fashion and powwow culture.

See more of her work at www.vanessaimesondesign.com

JEFF HARRISON – Lighting Designer

At WCT: Little Red Warrior and his Lawyer, Children of God, The Foursome Elsewhere: Jeff is the Technical Director of Kidd Pivot. He is a four time Jessie Award winning lighting designer for his work on Carousel Theatre’s Pharaoh Serket & the Lost Stone of Fire, Patrick Street Theatre’s Floyd Collins, Pi Theatre’s Blasted and Arts Club’s Hand to God. Jeff is a graduate of SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts, attended the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts and is a member of the Associated Designers of Canada. Other lighting credits include: Urban Ink’s Children of God, and NAC Indigenous Theatre’s The Unnatural and Accidental Women

CANDELARIO ANDRADE – Projection Designer

At WCT: Little Red Warrior and his Lawyer, Clean/Espejos Elsewhere: Cande is a video editor and media designer based in Vancouver. Recent theatre design credits include: The Secret To Good Tea (NAC, Grand Theatre); The Eyes of The Beast; (Neworld/UVIC); Women Of The Fur Trade (NAC, Native Earth, GCTC); Empty Handed (The Biting School); You used to call me Marie... (NAC, Savage Society); Julius Caesar (Bard on the Beach); Little Red and His Lawyer (Savage Society/Belfry/NAC); Mom’s the Word Talking Turkey (Arts Club); Recent editing credits include the short film LOOPING (Company 605) and the feature film Done/Undone (Bard on The Beach); as well as the short films: Common Law and a film about a uterus. In recent years, Cande has edited several projects for Mochizuki Studios and the Vancouver International Film Festival.

MJ DANDENEAU – Sound Designer / Composer

At WCT: Debut

Elsewhere: MJ Dandeneau is an accomplished bassist, sound designer, composer, and producer. Nationally recognized with awards such as JUNO, WCMA, MAC, and CFM, she has worked and toured with various artists and productions worldwide for the past 18 years.

Her work includes Charlie Brown’s Double Bill, Torn Through Time, Tiny Treasure, Frozen River (Manitoba Theater for Young People); Katharsis, The War Being Waged, Ponderosa Pine, Space Girl (Prairie Theater Exchange); Bittergirl: The Musical (bassist), YAGA (Royal Manitoba Theatre Center); La Liste, On Maronne! (Théâtre Cercle Molière) and Songide’ewin (Sarasvàti).

MJ has also done sound and sound design for Mary Poppins the Musical for the Flin Flon Art Council series. She continues to compose for short films, and documentaries, and tours the globe with various projects along the way. MJ is a French Métis and Anishinaabe woman from the Red River Nation. Her mother’s side comes from the Métis Red River Valley, and her father’s side comes from the Métis Nation/Anishinaabe people of Penetanguishene, Treaty 61. She is very excited and honoured to be part of this production, under the talented Director, Renae Morriseau. Miigwech Giga-waabamin.

JACK GOODISON – Associate Sound Designer

At WCT: Debut

Elsewhere: Jack (He/Him) is a Sound, Video & Lighting Designer who originates from the UK, now living in Vancouver. He has worked all across the UK and now designs on the ancestral and stolen lands of the Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh nations.

Select design Credits: Gemini, Dooja Ghar (South Asian Arts Society); Portraits of Solitude (Luna Creatives); Lip Service 3 (Pulsive Party); Las Pasiones de Don Pasquale, Chochito Rey (Rumble Theatre); Where Have All the Buffalo Gone (Axis Theatre); Willilish’d (As and When It Happens); Jane Austen Action Figure, Orlando, Mad Forest (Douglas College); The Pearl Fishers (Vancouver Opera); We Deserve to Work (Massey Theatre/UBC)

KAYLEIGH SANDOMIRSKY – Production Manager

At WCT: Debut

Elsewhere: Kayleigh Sandomirsky is a Vancouver-based stage/production manager, producer, curator and performer, who works across theatre and dance. She is the new Operations Coordinator for The Chop Theatre, has toured both large scale and independent performances across Canada and internationally, and is currently developing her skills in design and Tour Management. A multifaceted arts worker who has collaborated with an incredible roster of local and national companies. She recently worked with Raven Spirit Dance, Chimerik, New Works, Theatre Replacement, FakeKnot, O’Dela Arts, The Biting School, Scotiabank Dance Centre, ITSAZOO Productions, Pulsive Party, Pi Theatre, RealWheels, and rice and beans theatre.

MELANIE THOMPSON – Revival Stage Manager

At WCT: Debut

Elsewhere: Melanie Thompson is a stage manager and arts administrator based in Vancouver, BC. Selected theatre credits include Ce que je sais de vrai (Théâtre la Seizième); Children of God (2025 tour); Homecoming and Starwalker (Urban Ink); Carmen (Pacific Opera Victoria - ASM); Berlin: The Last Cabaret (City Opera Vancouver); Away With Home (MISCELLANEOUS Productions); The Full Light of Day (Electric Company Theatre – Appr. SM); La bohème (Vancouver Opera – Appr. SM); Les Filles du Roi (Fugue Theatre/Urban Ink – ASM); Rock Legends (Chemainus Theatre Festival – Appr. SM); Sonic Elder (The Chop); The Out Vigil (FirePot Performance); Underneath the Lintel (Pacific Theatre), Shrek: The Musical (Theatre Under the Stars); and Arvaarluk: An Inuit Tale (Pangaea Arts).

Outside of the theatre, Melanie works as managing director of the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra (VICO). She is a long-time member of the Board of Directors of Theatre Under the Stars. melaniejthompson.com

ELSA ORME – Revival Assistant Stage Manager

At WCT: Debut

Elsewhere: Elsa Orme (she/her) is a stage manager and designer currently living on the ancestral and unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (TsleilWaututh) First Nations. She is passionate about supporting processes and projects that are iterative and center collaboration, curiosity and empathy. Elsa is very excited to be working with Touchstone and Western Canada Theatre on this production of Women of the Fur Trade and is so grateful to be a part of this amazing team!

Select credits include Attempts in Flight (Dai Bao Productions); Morag, You’re A Long Time Deid (Touchstone Theatre); The 39 Steps (The Grove Theatre); Future Mythologies (re:Naissance Opera); Inheritances (Music On Main); Confluence (Raven Spirit Dance), Die Fledermaus (Vancouver Opera), Keepers of the Salish Sea (Holy Crow Arts), and Pawâkan (Akpik Theatre).

BRAVO TO OUR DONORS!

Western Canada Theatre gratefully acknowledges the following government agencies, corporations, foundations, and individuals for their generous contributions through sponsor-ships and/or charitable donations. We thank everyone who plays their important part in helping us to bring the highest quality of work to the broadest possible audience. Listings based on annual contributions, July 1, 2024 - September 17, 2025.

PRESENTING PARTNER

Kelson Group, Ron and Rae Fawcett

TITLE SPONSOR

Sandman Hotel Group

COMMUNITY TICKETING

SPONSOR

British Columbia Lottery Corporation

SEASON SPONSORS

Castanet

CFJC TV

Home Hardware

Stone Hazell & Company

Wayside

SHOW SPONSORS

The Comazzetto Group at BMO Private Wealth

New Gold

Watson Engineering

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SHOW CO-SPONSORS

IdeaLever

Vivid Orthodontics

MEDIA SPONSORS

98.3 CIFM

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FUNDERS

The City of Kamloops

Canada Council for the Arts Government of Canada

The Province of BC

BC Arts Council

FOUNDATIONS

BC Interior Community Foundation

Vancouver Foundation

OPENING NIGHT

Echoes Through Time

Patricia Tao and Gabrielle Després

An evocative journey through centuries of music for violin and piano. Saturday, October 25, 2025

An Evening with Dvořák Kootenay Chamber Players

A glowing portrait of Romantic chamber music at its finest. Saturday, November 8, 2025

Concerts at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church 7:30 pm

Information and tickets available at chambermusiciansofkamloops.org or at the door

O

La Sonnambula

VINCENZO BELLINI

10 AM, OCT 18, 2025

Arabella

RICHARD STRAUSS

10 AM, NOV 22, 2025

I Puritani

VINCENZO BELLINI

10 AM, JAN 10, 2026

Eugene Onegin

PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY

10 AM, MAY 2, 2026

La Bohème

GIACOMO PUCCINI

10 AM, NOV 8, 2025

Andrea Chénier

UMBERTO GIORDANO

10 AM, DEC 13, 2025

Tristan und Isolde

RICHARD WAGNER

9 AM, MAR 21, 2026

El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego

GABRIELA LENA FRANK / LIBRETTO BY NILO CRUZ

10 AM, MAY 30, 2026

WCT STAFF

KELLI FOX Artistic Director

ARTISTIC ADMINISTRATION

MORGAN BENEDICT Producer

CHEYENNE SCOTT Associate Artistic Director

FINANCE

CAROL FRIESEN Accounting Officer

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS

KIRK SMITH Marketing & Communications Director

AMIRA ALAM Marketing Assistant

LAURA MICHEL Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator

DEVELOPMENT

STEPHANIE McLEAN Development Director

EDUCATION

TERRI RUNNALLS Education & Outreach Director

PRODUCTION

DANIEL JEWISON Production Director

BRITTNEY MARTENS Head of Properties

SABRINA STACE Head of Wardrobe

ASHLEY HIIBNER Assistant Technical Director

JAKE KOPYTKO Part-Time Technician

ELIO STEPHENSON Part-Time Technician

VENUE SERVICES

Rentals & Facilities

MARTA ORANIEWICZ Interim Venue Services Director

GREG BROWN Front of House Manager

SHADE ARENDT Assistant Front of House Manager

House Staff

DENISE CLEVELAND, SOPHIA DIMOPOULOS, MATTHEW HARDY, NATASHA HOLOWAYCHUK, MAGGIE JONES, LINDA KASSIS, JAKE

KOPYTKO, BEN JOHNSON, KELSEY

LAUNIER, LUCAS LOCHRIE, JULIA

McKIBBON, MALLORY MOGG, REM MURRAY, JESSICA REID, ELIO STEPHENSON, JANE VIVENTI

Head Ushers

MARY AULIN, BARB DUBOIS-PAYNTER, KAREN FERGUSON, TRUDY GOOLD, KELLY JEFFERY, GEORGINA KNIGHT, WENDY MATHESON, MELODIE PIKE, GREG SAWATZKY

Kamloops Live! Box Office (KL!BO) MICHELLE CHABASSOL KL!BO Director STEPHEN FINLAY KL!BO Supervisor

Box Office Representatives

AVIE CACHELIN, NATASHA HOLOWAYCHUK, KELSEY LAUNIER, BETH MILBURN, MEGAN POLACIK

Sagebrush Theatre

LIAM BEFURT Venue Technical Director

BENJI LLOYD Theatre Technician

BRYCE CRICHTON Theatre Technician JENSEN SCZEBEL Theatre Technician

WCT BOARD OF DIRECTORS

At time of printing (September 22, 2025)

CHRYSTIE STEWART President

SUNNIE ROTHENBURGER Vice President

DIANA SKOGLUND Secretary

SHELLY SANDERS Treasurer

DIETER DUDY

MONICA MACAULAY

ROBIN NICHOL

COLLEEN RYAN

GREG SAWATZKY

JOHN SCOTT

RADHIKA MAIRA TABREZ

SARA WOLFE

MATT EGER Executive Director A SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL OUR

David Ross †

Tom Kerr ‡

Judge T.W. Shupe § Francis Barnett *

Grant Chu *

D. Michael Dobbin *

Sharon Frissell *

Peggy Gilmour *

Mike Latta *

Anne Manson *

Maureen Marshall *

Lanni Shupe *

† Honorary Life Artistic Producer

‡ Founding Artistic Director

§ Honorary Life Chairman

* Honorary Life Member