'We are healing': New Vancouver-based play explores trauma and reconciliation

A new Vancouver-based play is tackling the painful legacy of residential schools and reconciliation by trying to balance grief with hope.

"When we are in that place of grief, we have to understand that hope is still a choice, and that's what the play is about," co-writer Rosemary Georgeson told North by Northwest host Sheryl MacKay.

Weaving Reconciliation: Our Way follows Old One, a character the writers have been developing for 15 years, and his relationship with his community and family after a lifetime of trauma.

"As First Nations people we've been reconciling for a long time — it's not new to us," lead writer Renae Morriseau said.   

"You're taught in residential school to be Canadian and give away your identity, but at the same time when we came into these cities in Canada we weren't accepted, period. So we had to reconcile with that.

"We are healing. A lot of us are having to do our own internal journey and relationships with family and community."

Old One struggles with several memories: the shame he feels from not raising his daughter, his missing wife, the decline of the fishing industry and the impact of his experience in residential school.

Through improvised theatre, Old One ultimately finds a place of hope within himself. 

Morriseau uses storytelling and the stage as a way to make people aware of different world views, in an attempt to help create understanding and prevent fear between communities.

"It is our responsibility as Canadians to understand that the fabric of the Canadian consciousness is changing," Morriseau said.

"I'm an optimist. I hope and believe that it is for the better in terms of our communities coming together."

Weaving Reconciliation: Our Way runs until May 26 at the Vancouver Aboriginal Centre, and May 31 to June 1 at the En'owkin Centre in Penticton.

With files from CBC's North by Northwest