Women Of The Fur Trade

BY FRANCES KONCAN 

directed by Kathleen MacLean 

“uproarious…irreverent…political rom-com… a gift” —Intermission Magazine 

“side-splitting comedy…disarms with its wit, charms with its narratives and provokes with its timeless themes.” —Toronto Star 

Set in “eighteen hundred and something”, three very different women with a preference for 21st-century slang sit in a fort on the banks of the Reddish River, sharing their views on life, love, and that hot nerd Louis Riel (“He is SO dreamy…the total package!”) 

In this lively historical satire of survival and cultural inheritance, playwright Frances Koncan shifts perspectives from the male gaze onto women’s power—in the past and present—through the lens of the rapidly changing world of the Canadian fur trade.  

WHY I CHOSE THIS PLAY  

I am captivated by the way that Koncan’s irreverent and witty comedy looks at Indigenous history through a modern feminist lens. Poking fun at the men who have stolen the limelight for far too many years, Marie-Angelique, Cecilia, and Eugenia track the progress of—and interact with—Louis Riel and Thomas Scott. —Michael Shamata