play

One of the stars of a historical satire at Neptune Theatre has a personal connection to what she calls her dream play and dream role.

In Women of the Fur Trade, Danelle Charette plays Marie-Angelique, a super fan of Louis Riel, who led the Red River Resistance movement in the late 1800s that formed Manitoba.

Not only is it the first time she is playing a Métis woman from her home of Red River, she is also a descendent of Riel.

“It’s such an honor to be able to tell a story so close to my ancestors’ story. Like, this is my family’s story. This is our truth,” says Charette.

“It’s been a literal dream. I couldn’t have asked for a better cast to do it with and director and team. I feel so lucky.”

Instead of focusing on the men of the Red River Resistance story, as history textbooks typically do, playwright Frances Koncan shifts the perspective to three women during the revolt against European colonizers, says Charette.

She says the play is incredibly funny, mixing the setting of the 1800s with 21st century slang and a lot of pop culture references, but it also touches on some heavy topics, like colonial violence and misogyny.

Truth and Reconciliation Day

The run is part of the Prismatic Arts Festival and happened to coincide with the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a day to honour and remember the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis survivors and victims of the residential school system.

Charette says she’s never had a performance on the day and it’s a different experience.

“I’m feeling incredibly lucky that we still exist. It’s a testament to the power of our storytelling that we can share history that was pushed to be erased in our country,” she says.

She adds that it is an honour for herself, her family, and her ancestors to tell this story on that day.

For Joelle Peters, an Ojibwe woman, Truth and Reconciliation Day is, on one hand, great to have, but she says it also brings up a lot of complicated feelings.

And doing a show that talks about a lot of those complicated topics and subjects is great, she says.

“It gives me an opportunity to also share that feeling with other people,” says Peters.

She says supporting Indigenous art on Truth and Reconciliation Day is even more important.

She wants to be there with others who put their money where their mouth is, and who think “I’m going to sit with perhaps some uncomfortable feelings, or I’m going to show folks that, yeah, these types of stories matter.”

‘A gift to return to’

Peters plays Eugenia in the show. Her history with it goes back to even before the first production.

It was about 2018, she says, when she was part of one of the first readings of the show, and she went on to play Eugenia in the first production in 2020.

Now, in 2026, she says the play continues to grow and change alongside her.

“It’s such a gift to return to. It feels so good, and it’s always different. It depends on who’s part of the production. It depends on where we’re doing the production,” says Peters.

Eli Ham is not Indigenous, but he feels grateful he can help centre the story on the Indigenous and Métis perspectives.

He says his take on Thomas Scott is nuanced, making him seem misguided and more of a “lost boy” to get people on his side. Then, when he does and says terrible things, it feels more shocking, he says.

“It’s a way of getting people to understand that racism is hidden, and it’s insidious, and it is a baked-in part of the culture, and it certainly was at the time,” says Ham.

365 days a year

Along with Women of the Fur Trade, Prismatic Arts Festival is putting the spotlight on marginalized voices, like Indigenous people and people of colour, all across the city until Sunday.

Raeesa Lalani, executive and artistic director of the festival, curates the whole selection, including Women of the Fur Trade. She says it was such a beautiful and professional production that they wanted to give it a platform.

She says, though the fall festival happens to coincide with Truth and Reconciliation Day, that is on their minds all the time.

“Every single day of the year, we want to make sure that they’re supported. We want to make sure that their voices are amplified,” says Lalani.

The production is directed by Keith Barker and opened in Halifax on Sept 22. It runs until Oct. 11.