Do you know the real story behind the face of Canada’s ten-dollar bill?

On November 8, 1946, Halifax business owner Viola Desmond went to a movie at the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. Unaware that she was sold a lower-priced ticket for the balcony, where Black patrons were expected to sit, Viola took a seat on the main floor: the whites-only section. Although she offered to pay the one-cent tax difference, Viola was dragged from the theatre, jailed, and charged. Her story would impact history forever.

In Controlled Damage, award-winning playwright Andrea Scott illuminates the true story of Canadian Civil Rights icon Viola Desmond – a woman who took a stand against racial discrimination by taking a seat at a theatre.