Play based on life and death of Ashley Smith comes to Fredericton

A play based on the Ashley Smith case opens in Fredericton on Thursday.

Watching Glory Die was writtenby award-winning playwright Judith Thompson.

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Speaking to Information Morning Fredericton, Thompson said she was wasinspiredto write the piece by what she calls the tragedy of Smith's death.

She never hurt anyone.- Judith Thompson, playwright, speaking of Ashley Smith

"I was so outraged, haunted and perplexed by how this could happen in our country," said Thompson.

"And so I started writing monologues.I created a character named Glory inspired by Ashley Smith. I created her mother, as well, and also a guard."

Ashley Smith, originally from Moncton, was 19yearsold when she died inat the Grand Valley Institution in Kitchener, Ont.in 2007.

She strangled herself with a strip of cloth in a prison cell,while guards looked on. The inquiry into her incarceration and deathled to a national conversation on what could and should have been done differently in her case.

"A girl who was arrested for throwing crab apples at a postman when she was 14, and then given charge after charge for what we would consider minor infractions, like saying 'eff'off, orno, I don't like that food, that kind of thing," said Thompson.

"They kept her in solitary confinement for years."

Thompson said in doing extensive research for the play, she spoke with Smith's mother, Coralee, whom she describes as very supportive of the project, although she hasn't seen the play.

"Coralee Smith[is] a brilliant, determined, compassionate and very funny woman, who gave permission and was happy to keep the story alive."

Thompson, who has stagedthe playin Toronto,Vancouver and Halifax, said itis not meant to be a documentary.

It's fiction,based on a true story and she hopes it will makepeople think.

"There are peoplemen and womenwho've been declared dangerous offenders, who never hurt anyone, and then there are people who've done unbelievable damage, and they get out in a few yearsshe never hurt anyone.

Watching Glory Die,at TheatreNew Brunswick'sstudiotheatre on Whiting Road in Fredericton,opens Thursday and wraps up with a matinee onSunday.