The Ecstasy of Rita Joe

ACT ONE

Rita Joe, a young Indigenous woman, is brought before the Clerk and The Magistrate by the Policeman. As The Magistrate pontificates about the laws of the country, Rita Joe reflects on the fact that she was not given the same freedoms and rights as her fellow citizens. Rita Joe has been arrested for solicitation as she was trying to get a ride out of the city to go back to her reservation. The Magistrate insinuates that Rita Joe’s unemployment shows that she does not contribute to the growing nation of Canada. As Rita Joe insists she has held a job at a tire store, she starts to fade from reality and escape into her memories. Rita Joe is taken back to a memory of her boyfriend, Jaimie Paul. The two grew up together on the reservation and have been life-long friends. Rita remembers when Jaimie convinced her to move to the city of Vancouver with him. Rita Joe is swept up in the excitement of living in the city, but laments that she has begun to forget the faces of the people