{"product_id":"the-occupation-of-heather-rose-9780889225930","title":"The Occupation of Heather Rose","description":"\u003cp\u003eTwo epigraphs that frame \u003cem\u003eThe Occupation of Heather Rose\u003c\/em\u003e, one from \u003cem\u003eAlice in Wonderland\u003c\/em\u003e and the other from \u003cem\u003eHeart of Darkness\u003c\/em\u003e, prepare the audience for the nightmare of dislocation and alienation this one-woman show evokes.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYoung, naïve, and inadequately trained, urban health care\/social worker Heather Rose flirts with the pilot as she wings her way north in a bush plane, to land in an isolated and remote northern\/Native community, carrying her Canada Food Guides, plans for fitness classes and community social activities with her.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShe is met, when she lands, with what she initially perceives as a careless disrespect for anything she has understood to date of culture and civilization. The destitute, wretched and alienated Native population she has been sent to “move forward” meet her bright imperial gaze with the blank stares that arise from relentless years of exploitation and broken promises.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNine months later Heather Rose is “bushed”—utterly disillusioned by the growing horror of her new-found realization that what her culture has to offer this community: the alcohol bootlegged in by the charming bush pilot; the unsuitable clothing sold by the thoughtless proprietor of the general store; the gasoline used as much by the youth of the community to get high as to afford them access to what has become the tractless wilderness they inhabit; she finally understands is less than nothing—total dependency. She returns, compelled, like Marlowe in \u003cem\u003eHeart of Darkness\u003c\/em\u003e to tell her story to others—like her missing supervisor, whose empty office she “occupies” on her return, illustrating her monologue of despair on a blackboard to an absent colonial authority for which the audience stands in as its silent and complicit witness.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCast of 1 woman\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wendy Lill","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42957003948150,"sku":"9780889225930","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0671\/1374\/6550\/files\/CoreSourceHub_d67261c1-ac39-4009-80b2-7c3983966caa.jpg?v=1778362005","url":"https:\/\/ingramacademic.com\/products\/the-occupation-of-heather-rose-9780889225930","provider":"Ingram Academic \u0026 Professional","version":"1.0","type":"link"}