The Living is a powerful and unsettling documentary play by Colleen Wagner, author of the Governor General’s Literary Award–winning play The Monument. It is inspired by the actual stories of women and girls who survived trauma in post-conflict zones like Rwanda and Uganda. The Living 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. By means of theatrical fiction, documentary work, and re-enactment, The Living provides a creative path toward reconciliation, in hopes that the impossible act of forgiveness can end the cycle of revenge.
Keywords: transformative justice, women, reconciliation, love, rebuilding, post-genocide, documentary play, ghosts, witness, survivors, religion, HIV/AIDSYear
Printed: 2016
First Produced: Summerworks Festival, August 2015
Running TIme: 90 minutes
Acts: 1
Male Cast: 3
Female Cast: 7
Casting Notes: Premiere production was done with diverse casting to represent the many genocides past and present.