New Releases by Colleen Wagner

The Living is a documentary play inspired by the actual stories of women and girls who survived trauma in post-conflict zones. It examines the lives of victims and perpetrators, post-genocide, who live side-by-side in government-issued housing, as well as the role of NGO-funded campaigns.

"Two families, four languages, one house. "Home" puts its characters into a unique and challenging conflict across language and history and asks difficult questions about the illusion of ownership and the definition of "home". "Home" is the story of an aging man, Tooman, exiled from his homeland, who through repatriation efforts, can now return and reclaim his home and property. However, fifty-five years have passed and the home has been inhabited by three woman, who, caught in the shifting tides of a new world of globalization, find themselves threatened with expulsion when Toomas and his son, Wendall, return to reclaim the land and house. The women who have lived in this adopted country and in this house for so long, feel suddenly rootless. "Home" explores our deep connection to home, not just as place, but memory and language, our sense of identity"--Publisher''s website.

Beth and her husband Jake are expecting a baby. While Beth is having an ultrasound, her very expensive hand-sewn Italian-made coat disappears from the hospital waiting room. Beth is furiousÑthe coat which was a honeymoon gift from Jake has become a symbol of the coupleÕs destiny together and itÕs loss now takes on inordinate significance. The next time they see the coat, it''s being worn by Doreen, a homeless woman who is mentally unstable. Beth is near-hysterical about the theft, feeling that her private life has been violated. She becomes paranoid that Doreen is stalking her and begins to fear for her unborn baby. In effect, Beth wants Doreen to disappear from the face of the earth. Doreen, as she tells her friend John, isnÕt sure if she stole the coat, or just borrowed it but one thing is certain, she is picking up ÒvibesÓ from it and begins to imagine, surprisingly accurately, the lives of the people who own it. Beth has everything Doreen wants: house, husband, baby on the way. But soon Doreen begins to fear that there will be serious consequences for having taken the coat. As the charactersÕ lives become more closely entwined, the line between reality and fiction blurs. We step into a shadowy world where fantasies erupt: people morph into other selves. They steal babies, prescribe hysterectomies, and kill one another. Each of them will have to confront the shadow side of themselves before being able to hear the song of the morning bird.

A powerful play exploring the ambiguities of morality and justice in a time of war when a young soldier is convicted of war crimes. Governor General''s Literary Award for Drama Stetko is the boy next door who comes from respectable parents and has got caught up in the political events of a war he never understood. Like the good son, the good soldier, he obeys his superiors only to find that, at the conclusion of war, he has become the scapegoat for crimes ''everyone was doing''.

"Takes place on once prosperous farm country, now turned to a vast and blowing desert. It could be the dustbowl of the thirties or the not so distant future. However, one thing is certain, the arrival of Carlye to her family home after a long and mysterious absence wreaks havoc. Is she rainmaker as she claims, or out for revenge"--Publisher website.