Controlled Damage

Controlled Damage explores the life of Canadian civil rights icon Viola Desmond and how her act of bravery in a Nova Scotia movie theatre in 1946 started a ripple effect that is still felt today. An ordinary woman forced to be extraordinary by an unyielding and racist world, Desmond never gave up -- despite the personal cost to her and those who loved her. Andrea Scott’s highly theatrical examination of Desmond and her legacy traces the impact that she had on our culture, but also casts light on the slow progress of the fight for social justice and civil rights in Canada.

Andrea Scott is a Toronto playwright and screenwriter. She is the author of Better Angels: A Parable, a two-play collection (Scirocco Drama, 2018, ) and co-author (with Nick Green) of Every Day She Rose (Playwrights Canada Press, upcoming, 2022). Controlled Damage was workshopped originally at bcurrent performing arts theatre under the direction of Christopher Manousos in 2018. It was produced by Neptune Theatre in association with bcurrent, and directed by Nigel Shawn Williams in February, 2020. Andrea is the recipient of the Cayle Chernin Award for Theatre