Touchstone Theatre Kicks Off Landmark Season With Nationally Touring
Revival of Frances Končan‘s WOMEN OF THE FUR TRADE
September 24 – October 4, 2025
Touchstone launches its 50th Anniversary season with the acclaimed revival of Women of the Fur Trade by Anishinaabe/Slovene playwright Frances Končan, running September 24 October 4 at the Frederic Wood Theatre, UBC. Following its 2024 premiere at the National Arts Centre Indigenous Theatre (Ottawa) and Native Earth (Toronto), where it garnered a nomination for the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play, this national production is being remounted by Touchstone Theatre and Western Canada Theatre Company.
A rip-roaring satire of survival and cultural inheritance, Women of the Fur Trade shifts the spotlight from the male gaze to women’s power past and present against the backdrop of the Canadian fur trade. Set in a Red River fort “in eighteen hundred and something something”, three women sip tea and debate revolution, colonization, and the sex appeal of Louis Riel. Marie-Angelique (Kelsey Kanatan Wavey), a Métis Taurus with a plan, is busy writing bold love letters to Riel (Jonathan Fisher), convinced they’re fated. Ojibwe Sagittarius trapper Eugenia (Columpa Bobb) brings word of the rebellion back to the fort but isn’t impressed with the “overrated” Louis. Meanwhile, European settler Cecilia (Cheri Maracle), a pregnant Virgo anxiously awaiting her husband’s return, secretly pines over Thomas Scott (Victor Hunter) – who, unbeknownst to her, is the one actually responding to Marie-Angelique’s letters. Blending sharp wit, pop culture nods, modern slang, and incisive historical commentary, Končan’s time-bending play hilariously flips the script on colonial, male-centric narratives, placing three unforgettable women at the centre.
Presented in partnership with UBC and Western Canada Theatre Company, Končan’s storytelling power has propelled Women of the Fur Trade – from its Toronto Fringe debut to the Stratford Festival – into one of the most widely produced plays in Canada.
Women of the Fur Trade is directed by Renae Morriseau and stars Kelsey Kanatan Wavey (The Rez Sisters, Royal Manitoba Theatre), Cheri Maracle (Father Tartuffe: an Indigenous Misadventure, Arts Club Theatre), Columpa Bobb (White Noise, Firehall Arts Centre), Victor Hunter (Oliver!, Gateway Theatre) and Jonathan Fisher (Copper Thunderbird, National Arts Centre).
-PLAY SYNOPSIS-
Set in eighteen hundred and something something, somewhere upon the banks of a Reddish River in Treaty One Territory, three very different women with a preference for twenty-first century slang sit in a fort sharing their views on life, love, and the hot nerd Louis Riel.
This lively historical satire of survival and cultural inheritance 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.
Learn more about Touchstone‘s 2025/2026 season at touchstonetheatre.com
LISTING INFORMATION
Women of the Fur Trade
A Touchstone Theatre/Western Canada Theatre Company remount of the NAC Indigenous Theatre, Great Canadian Theatre Company, and Native Earth production Presented in association with UBC Theatre and Film
By Frances Koncan, directed by Renae Morriseau
Venue: Frederic Wood Theatre, UBC
Showtimes: Women of the Fur Trade runs from September 24 (Preview), September 25 (Opening) October 4, 2025
Showtimes: Evenings 7:30PM, Matinees 2PM
Post-Show Talkbacks: September 28, 2PM: Métis History with Tai Amy Grauman; September 30 – Truth & Reconciliation talkback with director Renae Morriseau
VocalEye Live Description: TBD
Running Time: 110 minutes
Box office: https://touchstonetheatre.com/
CAST & CREATIVE TEAM
Director | Renae Morriseau
Starring | Kelsey Kanatan Wavey, Cheri Maracle, Columpa Bobb, Victor Hunter and Jonathan Fisher
Scenic Designer | Lauchlin Johnston
Lighting Designer | Jeff Harrison
Projection Designer | Candelario Andrade
Projection Design Assistant | Melissa Joakim
Sound Designer/Composer | MJ Dandeneau
Sound Design Assistant | Miquelon Rodriguez
Associate Sound Designer | Jack Goodison
Costume Designer | Vanessa Imeson
Production Manager | Kayleigh Sandomirsky
Fight Director | John Koensgen
Revival Stage Manager | Melanie Thompson
Revival Assistant Stage Manager | Elsa Orme
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Frances Končan (she/they) is an Anishinaabe and Slovene playwright currently living in Vancouver, British Columbia, within the shared, unceded, ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Originally from Couchiching First Nation, they grew up on Treaty 1 territory in Winnipeg, Manitoba and attended the University of Manitoba (BA Psychology) and the City University of New York Brooklyn College (MFA Playwriting). They are currently Assistant Professor of Playwriting at the University of British Columbia.
ABOUT TOUCHSTONE THEATRE
Touchstone has been a mainstay of theatrical innovation and excellence on the West Coast for 50 years. The company’s all-Canadian mandate has helped launch and develop some of the country’s most respected theatre artists, while its substantial body of work has garnered over 75 local and national awards. The company, under Artistic Director Lois Anderson, explores contemporary theatre through content and form and stimulates public interest in cultural perspectives from Canada/Turtle Island. www.touchstonetheatre.com
Feature image: Women of the Fur Trade – photo by FRED CATTROLL
