WOMEN OF THE FUR TRADE
A razor-sharp and gleefully anachronistic remix of Indigenous and Canadian history that places a trio of women with a penchant for 21st century slang at the heart of the 19th century Riel Resistance.
Event Times
April 14, 2027 - 8:00 pm
Centaur Theatre in partnership with Productions Menuentakuan presents
WOMEN OF THE FUR TRADE
By Frances Koncan
Directed by Charles Bender
With Océane Kitura Bohémier-Tootoo, Marie-Pier Chamberland, Xavier Huard, Geneviève Pelletier and Étienne Thibeault
Costume Design by Rose Talbot
Lighting Design by Kahentanó:ron Brianna Montour
Music & Sound Design by Jean-Frédéric Messier
Stage Manager Elaine Normandeau
“In eighteen hundred and something-something, somewhere upon the banks of a Reddish River in Treaty One Territory…”
So begins Frances Koncan’s Women of the Fur Trade, a sharp, irreverent, and self-aware comedy that gleefully refuses to behave as historical drama is expected to. Set in the contested landscape of the Northwest Territory in the time leading up to the Red River Resistance, the play follows three very different women—each shaped by her own worldview and survival instincts—as they find themselves navigating the same precarious moment in history… not to mention a contagious bout of boy-craziness.
As the story begins, Marie-Angélique, a Métis romantic, is determined to woo the dashing Louis Riel by sending him boldly flirtatious letters. Eugenia, an Anishinaabe trader, brings news of rebellion back to the fort, along with Louis’s responses to Marie-Angelique. And Cecilia, a pregnant British settler, is anxiously waiting on her husband’s return from an expedition but can’t resist pining over the heartthrob (and Louis’s enemy) Thomas Scott, who is actually the one secretly responding to Marie-Angélique’s letters. This will all go smoothly, right?
This Montreal premiere of one of English-speaking Canada’s most popular and acclaimed plays of the past decade is a co-production with acclaimed Indigenous Quebec theatre company Productions Menuentakuan, known for their fearless comedic lens on the complexities of Indigenous and non-Indigenous relations. The play is directed by Menuentakuan Co-Artistic Director Charles Bender, whose work Centaur audiences will recognize from our celebrated collaboration on AlterNatives (2023) and whose signature blend of humour, fine thespianism, and cultural insight sharpens the play’s already incisive theatrical voice.
With its bold new take on one of the defining moments in Canadian and Indigenous history, this hilariously irreverent satire is sure to delight audiences who are either familiar with its subject or encountering it for the very first time.
*Why You Need to See It*
A wildly funny and razor-sharp remix of Indigenous and Canadian history that turns the past inside out to reveal who gets to tell the story—and why it still matters.