— ABOUT THE PROJECT

The play tells the story of Dez and Gabi, two young environmental activists, who find themselves trapped in a mountain hut after setting off a bomb to sabotage a pipeline and inadvertently triggering an avalanche. With them is Rose, a local woman who has been squatting there for the past year; Jacob, a small-town police officer; and Elender, a lost hiker. The text explores methods of activism and urban/rural relationships along Canada’s west coast, questioning where activism veers into extremism and whether destruction is ever justified in pursuit of a better world.

— BIOGRAPHY

Sarah Danielle Pitman is a playwright who grew up on the unceded territory of the Lekwungen and W_SÁNEC nations. She studied writing and English at the University of Victoria before pursuing playwriting at the National Theatre School of Canada. Her work has been performed in Victoria, Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto.

Sarah writes big stories fuelled by imagination. Inventing new dialects and vivid worlds, her plays are deliberately theatrical, bringing together multiple perspectives and complicated narratives. Through a combination of drama and comedy, she explores themes of connection, transformation, and climate collapse.

During her time at NTS, Sarah has worked on multiple projects including Fathom (dramaturgy by Ann-Marie MacDonald), Hunger Artists (with Nick Carpenter), Cascadia Nation (with Andrea Romaldi, Fatma Sarah Elkashef), and Beyond Belief (with Dean Patrick Fleming). Her play Salvage The Wrecked was written with dramaturgical guidance from Joanna Falck and performed under the direction of Jonathan Seinen at the National Theatre School’s 2025 New Words Festival.