Paper Wheat is a play by the 25th Street Theatre Centre about the hard lives of early Saskatchewan settlers and the foundation of the wheat pools and the Co-op movement on the Canadian Prairies.[1] The most successful stage show in Saskatchewan history, Paper Wheat opened in Sintaluta, Saskatchewan on May 18, 1977 and subsequently played to full houses across the province and nation.[2]
Paper Wheat was an example of documentary theatre, with company members traveling to local communities to collect stories about Saskatchewan history.[3] It was collectively created and written by its originating cast and crew, including director Andras Tahn and actors Linda Griffiths and Lubomir Mykytiuk.[4] Later productions, under the direction of Guy Sprung, added further new characters and dialogue created by the same collective process.[4]
A Prairie tour of the play was filmed by National Film Board of Canada filmmaker Albert Kish (in 1979), as one of the last films in its Challenge for Change series.[5]