• Age: 16
• Grade: 11

Frank LaFontaine and his children, BJ, Junior, and Mary, seem to have their dysfunctional lives under control until estranged younger sister Jaz shows up from Vancouver. The black sheep of the family, Jaz disrupts the family balance by challenging it. She has embraced her Native heritage and as her mother lies in a coma and the Northern Lights dance, she encourages her unwilling family to face the truth of their ancestry.

Métis writer Penny Gummerson was born and raised in Flin Flon, Manitoba. She worked as a newspaper journalist, magazine writer, documentary filmmaker, and advertising copywriter before becoming a playwright and screenwriter. She currently resides in Vancouver where she writes for stage and film. Wawatay received the 2002 Vancouver Jessie Richardson Theatre Award for Outstanding Original Play, the Peopleâ??s Choice Favourite New Play Award at the Vancouver New Play Festival, and was a Stage-Play Finalist at the International Moondance Film Festival in Denver, Colorado. Other plays include Crossing Boundaries and Is There Bingo in Heaven?. Penny has been Head Writer and Story Editor on the dramatic television series Moccasin Flats (Big Soul Productions/Showcase Television/Aboriginal Peopleâ??s Television Network). She is currently writing a movie of the week for CTV (Alberta Film Works, Code Red Entertainment) as well as the film adaptation of Wawatay.

Penny Gummerson's profile page

• Winner, People's Choice Favourite New Play (Vancouver New Play Fest.)
• Winner, 2002 Vancouver Jessie Jessie Richardson Theatre Award for Outstanding Original Play
• Short-listed, Stage-Play Finalist at the International Moondance Film Festival

Wawatay

In this play, Lois, the mother of a dysfunctional family, ends up in hospital. The rest of the family gathers, including Jaz, her wayward daughter who has embraced her Aboriginal heritage, a heritage that the others in her family have tried desperately to deny. Through her mother’s stay in the hospital, Jaz encourages her family to accept their heritage, and through this grow as a family. Gummerson has written for television, movies and the stage. She was head writer for the television show “Moccasin Flats”. Other plays include Crossing Boundaries and Is There Bingo in Heaven? Wawatay received the 2002 Vancouver Jessie Richardson Theatre Award for Outstanding Original Play and the People’s Choice Favourite New Play Award at the Vancouver New Play Festival.

Caution: Profanity throughout and racial slurs within context. Strongly advised to use as a read piece of literature rather than a play presented in a classroom or school-wide.