Young storytellers are often advised to write what they know. Thus for Anishinaabe and Slovene playwright Frances Koncan (she/they), it made sense to draw upon what she was familiar with when writing Women of the Fur Trade after graduating with an MFA in playwrighting from Brooklyn College.
“I’m from Couchiching First Nation, which is in northwestern Ontario,” Koncan, a UBC assistant professor of creative writing, tells Pancouver over Zoom. “It’s a big Métis community and Anishinaabe community, and it had a lot of people in the fur trade.”
Moreover, she grew up in Winnipeg, which was the centre of the Red River Resistance in 1869 and 1870. Métis leader Louis Riel led the famous uprising against the Canadian government’s plan to annex the territory. So she started researching this topic.
“I found a lot of accounts from the time period and about what was going on in different places,” Koncan states. “But I really noted that they were all written by men. So, even if they were about what women were doing at the time, it was from the perspective of the men at the time.”
In response, Koncan decided to give a voice to women, whose perspectives were missing from history books of the era. She did this through three female characters who use 21st-century slang in her satire on survival and cultural inheritance. The three female characters discuss colonization, rebellion, and Louis Riel, with each representing a different community in “Reddish River” in Treaty One Territory.
Touchstone Theatre will launch its 50th anniversary season with Women of the Fur Trade with a powerhouse cast from September 24 to October 4 at the Frederic Wood Theatre at UBC.
Koncan’s characters have differing perspectives
One of the female characters, Marie-Angelique, is played by Kelsey Kanatan Wavey, a genderfluid theatre artist based in Vancouver. Marie-Angelique is Métis and writes love letters to Louis Riel.
“What she really represents in the play is how culture merges and blends with different cultures,” Koncan reveals. “She kind of occupies the middle ground in a lot of situations.”
Eugenia (Columpa Bobb), on the other hand, is an Ojibwe trapper who thinks that the Métis leader is “overrated”. According to the playwright, this character represents matriarchs in so many Indigenous communities who make sure that everything gets done.
“Eugenia is probably the one that’s most inspired by people I actually know,” Koncan notes. “I drew a lot of inspiration from the Elders that I know and people who have seen a lot of things happen to their people and community.”
Bobb has been acting, writing, and directing for more than 25 years. She is also a Coast Salish poet, as well as a great-granddaughter of Chief Dan George and daughter of writer Lee Maracle.
Cheri Maracle (Paddle Song), who’s of Mohawk and Irish ancestry, plays the European settler Cecilia. Koncan emphasizes that this character was created to offer an authentic settler’s perspective from the 19th century.
“I think it’s really important—even in conversations about decolonization—to remember that everybody is a person and everyone is acting and doing what they think is right and the best thing to do.”
Male characters came later
Koncan began developing the work at a residency in 2017 at the Playwrights Theatre Centre in Vancouver. That was followed by workshop productions of Women of the Fur Trade in the following two years at the Toronto Fringe Festival and Native Earth Performing Arts.
The original show was 60 minutes. But when the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre picked it up, Koncan was asked if she wanted to add more characters. She chose to introduce two historical figures, Louis Riel and Thomas Scott, into the manuscript.
Scott was an Irish Protestant insurgent who was convicted of treason and executed by the provisional government led by Riel. in Women of the Fur Trade, Cecilia is expecting a child as she waits for her husband to return, but still carries a flame for Scott.
“I found Thomas Scott to be really compelling, because he was very much on what I would call the wrong side, and he said a lot of things I very much disagree with,” Koncan acknowledges. “But at the same time…I was thinking a lot about the discrimination Irish people were facing at the time, too, and how their choices to align with a more powerful British group would serve them.”
Nêhiyawi/Cree and Nahkawiniw/ Saulteaux storyteller Renae Morriseau is directing the Vancouver remount of the acclaimed NAC Indigenous Theatre, Great Canadian Theatre Company, and Native Earth production. She previously directed White Noise at the Firehall Arts Centre and has been an actor for more than 30 years.
Jonathan Fisher, who is Bear Clan and Anishinaabe from the Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory, plays Riel. Victor Hunter, a Métis actor based in Vancouver, plays Scott.
Women of the Fur Trade premiered in 2020 at Royal Manitoba Theatre Company, In subsequent years, it was staged at Stratford, the National Arts Centre, and Globe Theatre Regina.
“It’s very rare that a play in Canada does that,” Koncan says. “If you’re lucky to get a production of a play, it’s very likely that’s the only production you’re going to get. I’m really aware of that, and I know that probably none of my other plays will ever get as much traction as this one.”
Event details
Touchstone Theatre will launch its 50th anniversary season with Women of the Fur Trade from September 24 to October 4 at the Frederic Wood Theatre at UBC. Touchstone Theatre and Western Canada Theatre Company are remounting the NAC Indigenous Theatre, Great Canadian Theatre Company, and Native Earth production in association with UBC Theatre and Film. For tickets and more information, visit the Touchstone Theatre website.
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