Finalist for the Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book
Finalist for the Manitowapow Award
The War Being Waged is a poetic and unflinchingly truthful examination of what happens when patriotism and sovereignty collide. An Indigenous mother becomes an activist while her brother becomes a soldier. A grandmother speaks to her granddaughter from prison. A granddaughter, filled with turmoil, struggles to accept her family’s history. Three generations of Indigenous women try to connect the pieces of their lives after experiencing all the ways Canada has torn them apart.
News & Reviews
“A searing portrait of indigenous issues…Sovereignty, suicide, missing women, intergenerational conflict and connections are major themes told through the lives of women connected by blood and tragedy.”
—OnstageBlog.com
“The War Being Waged is a stunning piece of theatre. Darla Contois has created a story that is familiar, harrowing, compelling, nuanced, full of love, grace and art.”
—The Slotkin Letter
About the Author
Darla Contois is a Cree-Salteaux performer and playwright from Misipawistik Cree Nation in Manitoba. She graduated from the Centre for Indigenous Theatre’s professional training program in 2014, attended David Smukler’s National Voice Intensive and premiered her solo show White Man’s Indian at Summerworks 2017 in Toronto where she was awarded the Emerging Artist Award. Her most recent work, The War Being Waged was produced by Winnipeg’s Prairie Theatre Exchange as part of their 2021-22 season and has been acknowledged by Toronto critic Lynn Slotkin with a Tootsie award. Darla lives in Winnipeg.
