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Weesageechak 26

Weesageechak Begins To Dance – 26
November 21-23, 2013
Join us as Weesageechak begins to dance for the 26th time. This year’s festival places a special emphasis on local Indigenous artists and their works in development!

Let’s Play.

Day One: Thursday, November 21 @ 8pm

Rutas Festival Preview *A Sneak Peak of our partnership with Aluna Theatre’s Rutas Panamericanas Festival featuring excerpts of:

What I learned from a decade of fear created & directed by Trevor Schwellnus in association with Aluna Theatre
La Maleta (The Suitcase) created by Bea Pizano
In Spirit created by Tara Beagan and the original creative team

Day Two: Friday, November 22 @ 8pm
Emerging and Veteran Female Voices *Playwright in residence PJ Prudat and Gemini Award winning artist Jani Lauzon bring to life the Aki Studio with text and music 

I Call Myself Princess: The Story of Tsianina Redfeather created by Jani Lauzon
Postcards created by PJ Prudat

Day Three: Saturday, November 23 @ 8pm
Animikiig and Thundering Voices Night *A showcase of new and exciting Indigenous voices featuring our partnership with the 3rd year talents from the Centre of Indigenous Theatre

Deadbeats created by Garret C. Smith
Aluasa’sit created by Cathy Elliot
Good Grief created by Lorrie Gallant and L.M. VanEvery
The Circle: Visions of a Hoop Dancer created by Tjay Henhawk
The Longest Way Around created by Heather Marie Annis

The festival closes with an Indigenous Networking After-Party sponsored by
the Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance www.ipaa.ca

Let’s Dance.


Each night is $15

 

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Past Productions

The Circle: Visions of a Hoop Dancer

by Tjay Henhawk with direction & dramaturgy by Cole Alvis

A coming of age story about a young boy who must overcome many obstacles and negative influences. As he struggles through his journey will he find the true meaning of his visions?

Featured in the Animikiig / Thundering Voices night of the festival
Saturday, Nov. 23rd @ 8pm* 
Aki Studio Theatre

*Followed by an Indigenous Networking After-Party sponsored by
the Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance www.ipaa.ca

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Past Productions

Postcards

By NEPA playwright-in-rez PJ Prudat with direction/dramaturgy by Nigel Shawn Williams

A young Métis man, in search of his stolen roots, sets out on an enlightening journey to unearth his lost identity and find his blood family.

Day 2: Thursday, November 21st @ 8pm 
Aki Studio Theatre – 585 Dundas Street East

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Past Productions

The Longest Way Around

The Longest Way Around
by Heather Marie Annis
with direction & dramaturgy by Spy Dénommé-Welch

William Elias the child of two intersecting paths – that of traditional Ojibwa living and imported Christian values. At the epitome of a crossroads, what must he lose when faced with an ultimatum?

Featured in the Animikiig / Thundering Voices night of the festival
Saturday, Nov. 23rd @ 8pm* 
Aki Studio Theatre

*Followed by an Indigenous Networking After-Party sponsored by
the Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance www.ipaa.ca

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Past Productions Uncategorized

Aluasa’sit

by Cathy Elliot with direction & dramaturgy by Herbie Barnes

The Chenoo of Mi’qmak tradition is a monster of inconceivable proportions, consuming whole communities. This story is interwoven with a contemporary tale to ask: did Anna Mae Pictou Aquash fall to a similar beast?

Featured in the Animikiig / Thundering Voices night of the festival
Saturday, Nov. 23rd @ 8pm* 
Aki Studio Theatre

*Followed by an Indigenous Networking After-Party sponsored by
the Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance www.ipaa.ca

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Past Productions

La Maleta (The Suitcase)

by Beatriz Pizano with direction by Andrew Lamb in association with Roseneath Theatre

La Maleta (The Suitcase) is the story of Roca, a ten-year old refugee who escapes her native Colombia clutching her suitcase – inside of which she believes her grandmother is hiding. Struggling to adapt to a new city, a new school and a new way of life, Roca befriends Paz, a boy with a secret who is being bullied by their classmates.

Opening Night of the festival
Thursday, November 21st @ 8pm 
Aki Studio Theatre – 585 Dundas St. East

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Past Productions

Good Grief

Good Grief
by Lorrie Gallant and Lisa VanEvery
with direction and dramaturgy by Jessica Carmichael

Everybody deserves a fitting farewell, but if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself.  Six friends come together to plan their own funerals in this surprisingly joyful comedy about their final farewell.

Featured in the Animikiig / Thundering Voices night of the festival
Saturday, Nov. 23rd @ 8pm* 
Aki Studio Theatre

*Followed by an Indigenous Networking After-Party sponsored by
the Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance www.ipaa.ca

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Past Productions

Deadbeats

Deadbeats
by Garrett C. Smith with direction & dramaturgy by Tara Beagan

The Blackfoot Nations have long been inventive survivors and creative trades people who found their strength in the Buffalo. Does losing the Buffalo mean losing our strength?

Featured in the Animikiig / Thundering Voices night of the festival
Saturday, Nov. 23rd @ 8pm* 
Aki Studio Theatre

*Followed by an Indigenous Networking After-Party sponsored by
the Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance www.ipaa.ca

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Past Productions

What I learned from a decade of fear

What I learned from a decade of fear
by Trevor Schwellnus

A Karmic Accounting / Interrogation Ritual to explore how to own a decade of repression, war, and security paranoia.   Did we let them change the world in order to preserve it? Could it be incriminating, to have an average life?  What if we believe it, when we are told, “this was done for us?”

Opening Night of the festival
Thursday, November 21st @ 8pm 
Aki Studio Theatre – 585 Dundas St. East

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Past Productions

Native Earth Presents: Chocolate Woman Dreams the Milky Way

By Monique Mojica
A Chocolate Woman Collective Production

January 29 – February 3, 2013

Chocolate Woman Dreams the Milky Way written and performed by Toronto actor/playwright Monique Mojica and performed with Gloria Miguel of New York’s Spiderwoman Theater is directed by renowned Guna theatre artist José Á. Colman.

Chocolate Woman Dreams the Milky Way layers the stories of a girl soldier, Daughter from the Stars, and Sky Woman Falling (First Woman) with retellings of cultural stories of the Grandmothers of Creation. The play weaves realities to create a daring, thought provoking performance. An embodied journey of reclamation rooted in the Guna cosmology, this performance animates the narratives encoded in traditional molas (textiles).

Chocolate Woman Collective reclaims Indigenous cultures through artistic process.

Remount Director: Jill Carter
Actor & Artistic Director: Monique Mojica
Elder & Master Actor: Gloria Miguel
Stage Manager & Producer: Gia Nahmens
Premier Assistant Director, Principal Spanish / English Translator: Alberto Guevara
Composer: Marden Paniza
Sound & Lighting Design: Michel Charbonneau
Set Designer: Oswaldo “Achu” de Leon Kantule
Dramaturg: Ric Knowles
Premier Director, Translator to Dulegaya & Cultural Consultant: José Á. Colman
Textile Designer, Costume Designer & C0-Set Designer: Erika Iserhoff

Photo of Monique Mojica by Juan Camilo Palacio

Aki Studio Theatre – 585 Dundas St. E. Toronto, ON
East of Parliament Street, inside the Daniels Spectrum building

 

The show dates/times are:

Tuesday, Jan. 29th @ 12:30pm Student Matinee
Wednesday, Jan. 30th @ 8pm Opening Night
Thursday, Jan. 31st @ 8pm
Friday, Feb. 1st @ 8pm
Saturday, Feb. 2nd @ 8pm
Sunday, Feb. 3rd @ 2:30pm

Ticket Prices:

Evening Performances: $20
Matinee: $15
Elders/Group Rate/Arts Workers: $10

Box Office: 1-800-204-0855

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Past Productions

Native Earth Presents: Café Daughter

By Kenneth T. Williams
A Gwaandak Theatre Production

January 15-20, 2013

@ The Aki Studio Theatre

Café Daughter is a one-woman show inspired by the life of Dr. Lillian E. Quan Dyck.  This family friendly show is about a Chinese Canadian Cree girl growing up in rural Saskatchewan.  The story begins in 1957: 10-year old Yvette Wong helps out in her parents’ café.  Her mother has charged her with a secret – to never tell anyone she’s part Cree.  She’s incredibly bright and dreams of becoming a doctor, but is put in the slow learners’ class because of her skin colour.  This occurs at a time when Aboriginal children are forced into residential schools, provincial law forbids Caucasian women from working in Chinese-owned businesses, and Chinese-Canadian men struggle to bring families to Canada.

Don’t miss this twelve-character virtuoso performance by PJ Prudat.

Starring: PJ Prudat
Directed by Yvette Nolan
Set Design: Linda Leon
Lighting Design: Michelle Ramsay
Sound Design: Jona Barr & K. Scott Maynard
Costume Design: Linda Talbot
Stage Management: Richard Cliff
Photo of PJ Prudat by Juan Camio Palacio

Aki Studio Theatre – 585 Dundas St. E. Toronto, ON

East of Parliament Street, inside the Daniels Spectrum building

 

The show dates/times are:

Tues, Jan 15 8PM PREVIEW
Wed, Jan 16 12:30PM (student matinee) 8PM OPENING
Thurs, Jan 17 8PM
Fri, Jan 18 8PM
Sat, Jan 19 2:30PM, 8PM
Sun, Jan 20 2:30PM

Ticket Prices:

Evening Performances: $20
Matinee: $15
Elders/Group Rate/Arts Workers: $10

 

Box Office: 1-800-204-0855

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Past Productions

Tombs of the Vanishing Indian

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Past Productions

Weesageechak 24

Featuring new works by Keith Barker, Angela Loft, Kenneth T. Williams, Darrell Dennis, Clifford Cardinal and participants in the Animikiig and Thundering Voices program.

Native Earth is excited to bring the performing arts community together for our 24th annual Weesageechak Festival. This year’s 5 day festival is being held at Theatre Passe-Muraille (16 Ryerson Ave), October 25th until the 29th, 2011. Native Earth is pleased that our new festival dates provide us with the opportunity to engage with our sister organizations imagineNative and CIT. We also could not wait to present the works of the newly named Animikiig (Ah-knee-mah-key, formerly Young Voices) and Thundering Voices program.

Tues. October 25

10-1pm: Artistic Visioning with Denise Bolduc

2-5pm: First Play with Keith Barker and Kenneth T. Williams

Wed. October 26

10-1pm: Indigenous Design Round Table with Andy Moro

8pm: Act 1 Hoofs by Angela Loft

Act 2 Huff by Clifford Cardinal

Opening Night Party

Thur. October 27

8pm: Choke– Film by Michelle Latimer

Act 1 This Is How We Ended Up Here by Keith Barker

Act 2 From Nothing both written by Keith Barker

Fri. October 28

8pm: Animikiig- New Playwrights

Thundering Voices- Emerging Playwrights

Sat. October 29

2pm: Where Have All The Warriors Gone? by Darrell Dennis

8pm: Deserters 111016 by Kenneth T. Williams

Theatre Passe Muraille
16 Ryerson Ave.

October 26-29, 2011
Tickets: 416.504.7529

www.artsboxoffice.ca

Weesageechak Festival has been the starting point for numerous renowned writers including Dora-award winning Tara Beagan and Spy Dénommé-Welch. Featuring performances in dance, theatre, music and multi-media, Weesageechak has launched over 150 new works by such artists as Drew Hayden Taylor, Alanis King, Tara Beagan, Darrell Dennis, Marie Clements, Turtle Gals and Tonto’s Nephews.

Of those 150 works, over 50 have gone on to mainstage productions including Dreary and Izzy and Girl Who Loved Her Horses.

Deadline for submissions is June 15th annually. Click here for submission guidelines.

Photo of Craig Lauzon (L), Waawaate Fobister (R) by Keith Barker

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Past Productions

from thine eyes

from thine eyes is set in the space between the land of the living and that of the dead, where six characters struggle to find meaning at the end of their lives, as they confront their deepest fears, most cherished memories, and each other.

Sept 22–24, 2011

Choreography by Michael Greyeyes
Written by Yvette Nolan
Composer: Miquelon Rodriguez
Featuring: Michael Caldwell, Luke Garwood, Ceinwen Gobert, Sean Ling, Shannon Litzenberger, Claudia Moore

Photo of  (R) Sean Ling, (C) Claudia Moore , (L) Ceinwen Gobert  by Scarlet O’Neill

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Past Productions

Tulugaq