Poster by TETRODESIGN www.tetrodesign.com for Prairie Theatre Exchange

Souvenirs looks at the divide between generations and the sacrifices parents and children make for one another as an estranged father and daughter battle to overcome their fear of loss and discover the ultimate, redemptive power of love and family.

Maggie, a troubled teen in high school, reunites with her estranged father, Gustav - a Czech immigrant who lives in a home he's built in the woods, and supports himself crafting souvenirs. But his dream of creating the perfect place in a rural outcrop of his adopted country has come at a price, driving away his wife and preventing him from seeing his teenaged daughter regularly. When Maggie shows up at her father's house on an unusual mission, her unexpected visit unfolds into a dramatic and life changing journey for both father and daughter. As they reunite they each discover they're keeping some big secrets from each other...

Along the way, Souvenirs explores questions of identity (both national and personal, the clash of values between generations, and what it really means to be a family.

Souvenirs was commissioned by Green Thumb Theatre, Vancouver, BC and co-produced with Winnipeg's Prairie Theatre Exchange Company in October 2009, where it received both critical acclaim and positive audience feedback.

In November of the same year, the Green Thumb Theatre production of Souvenirs was performed in Vancouver in association with the Third Street Theatre Series at the Presentation House Theatre.

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"Top notch...hits the right emotional notes in the right spots." - CBC Winnipeg (Canada)

"Riml is a good writer, and she crafts characters who interact naturally, and most importantly, who we care about." - CBC Manitoba (Canada)

"Souvenirs is undeniably moving" - The Georgia Straight (Vancouver, Canada)

"Michele Riml's latest two-hander, Souvenirs, is...perceptive [and] powerful." - Vancouver Plays (Canada)

"At times, the play feels simply torn from life, with characters...that [are] presented with the full breath of life." - Uptown Magazine (Winnipeg, Canada)

"North Vancouver residents...have a playwright living among them who is going to be one of Canada's best - if she isn't already." - North Shore News (Vancouver, Canada)