Canadian Plays

Nightwood Theatre is the longest-running and most influential feminist theatre company in Canada. Since 1979, the company has produced works by Canadian women, providing new opportunities for women theatre artists. It has also been the 'home company' for some of the biggest names in Canadian theatre, such as Ann-Marie MacDonald. In Nightwood Theatre, Scott describes the company's journey toward defining itself as a feminist theatre establishment, highlighting its artistic leadership based on its relevance to diverse communities of women. She also traces Nightwood's relationship with the media and places the theatre in an international context by comparing its history to that of like companies in the U.K. and the U.S.

The sound of the wind across a Prairie field, the smell of grass on the first day of spring, the vocalization of birds in the early morning woods, the silence of the lake at night interrupted by call of the loon – these are the shapes and sounds of the Prairie landscape. Katherine Koller invokes the Prairie setting as a central character in each of the four plays in Voices of the Land. Serving a supportive and, at other times, antagonistic role, the landscape acts upon the characters, driving and intensifying their transformation. The land and those who live in intimate terms with it are the focus of Koller's plays. In The Seed Savers, farmers face pressure to purchase genetically modified seed; a protagonist refuses to sell untilled land for development in Cowboy Boots and a Corsage; a dying woman sees a lake as her final resting place in Abby's Place; and in The Early Worm Club, Millie realizes a deep sense of belonging to the Alberta parkland and its birds while searching for her mate. Nature goes beyond mere setting and backdrop in these plays to effect transformation and resolution on the characters. Ranging from romantic comedy to drama and from one-act to full-length, the plays in Voices of the Land show western Canadians at the point of leaving, returning, and renewing against the backdrop of their native landscape.