In June of 1959, 12-year old Lynne Harper was found raped and strangled in a farm woodlot near Clinton, Ontario. A few months later her classmate, 14-year old Steven Truscott, was convicted of the murder. He was sentenced to death by hanging.
Truscott always maintained his innocence. As the youngest person ever sentenced to death in Canada, his case was a major impetus for the abolishment of capital punishment in this country, and his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1960. In 2007, after a review of more than 250 pieces of new evidence, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that TruscottÕs conviction had been a miscarriage of justice, and he was acquitted.
In this incisive and emotionally-taut dramatization of the case, Beverley Cooper recreates the world of Steven Truscott and his friends. Sarah, a young farm girl, is our guide to life bounded by small town hangouts, organized sports, the local air force base, school. And then suddenly that world twists into a nightmare of grief, fear, police questioning, rumour and innuendo. With finely-calibrated tension, Cooper leads the audience through the case afresh and sheds light on the human cost of what is now considered to be CanadaÕs most notorious wrongful conviction.

Beverley Cooper is a writer, actor and teacher. She has written for TV, film and extensively for CBC radio drama, twice being nominated for Writers' Guild of Canada Awards. Her plays include Thin Ice (co-written with Banuta Rubess, Chalmers/Dora Award, Theatre Direct plus numerous other productions), The Eyes of Heaven (Blyth Festival), The Woman in White (adapted from the novel by Wilkie Collins, Theatre Aquarius),The Lonely Diner: Al Capone in Euphemia Township, (Blyth Festival) and Janet Wilson Meets the Queen (nominated for a Prix Rideaux award 2016, GCTC). Innocence Lost: A Play about Steven Truscott (Blyth, Centaur, National Arts Centre) was a finalist for a Governor General's Literary Award and was on the Globe and Mail Bestsellers List, a first for a Canadian playwright. Beverley holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph and trained as an actor at Studio 58. She has performed in TV, film and in theatres across Canada. Beverley lives in Toronto.

Beverley Cooper's profile page

ÒÉstrikes to the core of anyone with a heart..the story refuses to go away. Nor should we let it.ÓÑLondon Free Press