When Jackie comes back to her childhood home after separating from her husband, she thinks her biggest problem will be readjusting to life on a smaller bed. She's surprised to learn, however, that her mother has given that bed away to Deng, a Sudanese refugee. But the former Lost Boy is not all that he seems, and the entire family -- Jackie, her earth goddess mother, and her sixteen-year old sister -- learns something about making assumptions. When Deng crashes Jackie's newly purchased car and then reveals that he doesn't have a driver's license, Jackie must make a choice. Will she make a personal sacrifice on behalf of someone who has lived through the worst?

Cultural differences, language barriers, and the self-conscious earnestness of good intentions all feature in this scathingly comic look at Canadian values. Social Studies was presented at Prairie Theatre Exchange in Winnipeg, and at Vancouver's Firehall Theatre.

A Theatre graduate from the University of Winnipeg, Trish Cooper has worked as an actor and a writer in Winnipeg and Toronto. She began writing sketch comedy with the Royal Liechtenstein Theatre Company and wrote for the Fringe Festival circuit including The Year of the Panda (with Vanessa Macrae), The Comment Card and Homely Woman #2. Trish was a writer/performer for Theatre Projects Manitoba's inaugural In the Chamber series, and has also been a regular contributor for CBC's Definitely Not the Opera. Recently, she worked as both writer and performer on the web series, Wind City. Social Studies, which Trish developed during her time in the Prairie Theatre Exchange Playwrights Unit, is her first full-length play. She lives in Winnipeg.

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• Short-listed, The Chris Johnson Award for Best Play by a Manitoba Playwright
• Short-listed, John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer