I Forgive You
- Publisher
- Playwrights Canada Press
- Initial publish date
- May 2024
- Category
- Gay & Lesbian, Canadian
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9780369104984
- Publish Date
- May 2024
- List Price
- $18.95
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Description
In October 2013, Scott Jones was leaving a bar in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, when he was attacked, stabbed in the back, and left paralyzed from the waist down. In the months following his attack, Scott Jones’s story garnered international attention, not only for its brutality, but also for his uncommonly early decision to forgive his attacker. Furiously researching restorative justice practices and success stories, Jones sits down to ask himself the hardest question he’s ever had to answer: Does he have it in him to not just forgive his attacker, but to accept his new life as a disabled man?
Based on the incredible true story, I Forgive You explores the complexities of forgiveness, privilege, recovery, and self-love in Scott’s own words backed by a live children’s choir performing the music of legendary Icelandic band Sigur Rós.
About the authors
Scott Jones is a filmmaker, playwright, and music educator from Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia). Scott worked with the National Film Board of Canada to create the award-winning documentary Love, Scott (HotDocs, 2018), and in 2022 Scott wrote and directed his first short film, Coin Slot (VIFF, 2022; Best Short Film, AIFF, 2022). Both films are available online via the NFB website, Amazon (Love, Scott), and on CBC Gem (Coin Slot). Scott has also worked extensively as a music educator, having conducted the Nova Scotia Youth Choir (resident conductor), VOX: A Choir for Social Change (NS), the Pictou District Honour Choir (NS), and Vox Populi (ON). He has guest conducted the Amadeus Choir (ON), Shallaway Youth Choir (NL), Lady Cove Women's Choir (NL), Mount Allison Choral Society (NB), and Singing Out (ON). Scott has received numerous accolades for his artistic and activist work, including a YMCA Peace Medal, a Nova Scotia Human Rights Award, and a Mount Allison Alumni Award (Contemporary Achievement). Scott has a Master of Arts from the University of Toronto.
Robert Chafe has worked in theatre, dance, opera, radio, fiction, and film. His stage plays have been seen in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and in the United States, and include Oil and Water, Tempting Providence, Afterimage, Under Wraps, Between Breaths, and The Colony of Unrequited Dreams (adapted from the novel by Wayne Johnston). He has been shortlisted twice for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama and he won the award for Afterimage in 2010. He has been guest instructor at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, and the National Theatre School of Canada. He is the playwright and Artistic Director of Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland.
Editorial Reviews
“I Forgive You [is] a reminder that forgiveness is a multifaceted and complex concept. Jones’ story, and the elegant way in which it was told, was a powerful experience I won’t soon forget.”
Natasha Baldin, The Charlatan
“I Forgive You covers the extensive physical and emotional struggle faced by survivors of assault, and young queer folks especially, who must grow into who they are under the threat of possible harm. The play also shows how the healing process from any trauma is not, and will never be, linear . . . The writing of I Forgive You is truly magical, the process by which it was created makes every scripted word feel authentic.”
Stef Curran, The Independent
