With Glowing Hearts wins Best of Fest at Fringe

An innovative production that brought College of Arts & Science research to the stage has been recognized with the Best of Fest award at the 2016 PotashCorp Fringe Festival.

With Glowing Hearts: How Ordinary Women Worked Together to Change the World (and Did) recorded the largest overall box office of any play at the festival, reports the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, making it the overall Best of Fest.

The play tells the story of the impact made by miners’ wives—working through women’s auxiliaries in remote mining towns during the mid-20th century—on Canada’s labour landscape. With Glowing Hearts is based on research by Department of Sociology Associate Professor Elizabeth Quinlan, is directed by Department of Drama Assistant Professor Julia Jamison and features a cast of U of S students. Jennifer Wynne Webber wrote the script.

“With Glowing Hearts brings to the stage the noble and little-known history of women’s involvement in the progressive struggle for workplace safety, social and economic justice, and a healthy civil society,” said Quinlan after learning of the Fringe award. “The play has galvanized Fringe audiences of both men and women, and the Best of Fest award attests to people's desire for an alternative to the dominant discourse 'there is no alternative'.”

With Glowing Hearts returns to the stage at the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour Occupational Health and Safety Conference in Regina on Sept. 7. For details on this public performance, visit the play’s Facebook page.

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