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Canoe

Canoe

An Unsettled Scores production in collaboration with Native Earth Performing Arts, The Toronto Consort and Theatre Passe Muraille  

Previews: Sept. 12-13 | Sept. 15-16

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Canoe is a captivating tale of two sisters from Northern Ontario, their ancestral tree, and an old, but familiar, visitor from the past. Through a minimalist aesthetic, this poignant work breaks free from Eurocentric operatic structures, creating an accessible and safe space for diverse audiences to experience the transformative power of Indigenous storytelling and opera.

In the summer of 2018 Native Earth Performing Arts granted Unsettled Scores the opportunity to experiment through the month-long Mskomini Giizis Residency. The creative team explored ways of incorporating new and old technologies to support the story’s overall arc. Canoe delivers an important message about human-to-human relationships, our relationships with the environment, ancestors and the spirit world.

CONTENT WARNINGS:
Language (swearing), mention of self harm, and Mentions of Residential Schools and death and harm in relation to Residential Schools.

CREATIVE TEAM
Libretto/Story by Spy Dénommé-Welch 
Music by Spy Dénommé-Welch & Catherine Magowan
Co-Director Spy Dénommé-Welch
Co-Director Moynan King
Music Director Catherine Magowan
Assistant Music Director / Lute Ben Stein
Producer for Unsettled Scores Ulla Laidlaw
Production Manager Aden Calvin
Technical Director David Fisher
Stage Manager Meghan Speakman
Assistant Stage Manager Angela Mae Bago
Choreographer Montana Summers
Lighting Designer Siobhan Sleath
Set Designer Lindy Kinoshameg
Costume Designer Sherri Hay
Wardrobe Assistant Aurora Judge
Hair & Makeup Artist  Deandra Wells

CAST
Tree Spirit Conlin Delbaere-Sawchuk 
Constance Kristine Dandavino
Debaajimod Michelle Lafferty
Gladys Nicole Joy-Fraser

MUSICIANS  
Recorders Alison Melville
Violin Kathleen Kajioka
Cello Margaret Jordan-Gay
Harpsicord Paul Jenkins

PRODUCTION KNOWLEDGE HOLDERS
Dr. Catherine Longboat & Morris Lessard

PRODUCTION SUPPORT DOG
Maeve

Previews: Sept. 12 & 13, 7:30 pm
Sept. 15,  7:30 pm
Sept. 16, 2 pm & 7:30 pm

General Admission. Pay what you like: $65 / $45 / $20
Previews: $10

Visual Art by Mishiikenh Kwe

They Know Not What They Do

They Know Not What They Do

Audio Play
Written by Tara Beagan
Produced by Native Earth Performing Arts

from September 30

Available from September 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, They Know Not What They Do, by Siminovitch Award laureate and former NEPA Artistic Director, Tara Beagan, follows three separate yet parallel journeys through Residential School. Stories of survival weave through time, and as we hear from Elders in the present day and moments in their own voices as small children, we are reminded that these atrocities were perpetrated on vulnerable young people. Within these stories of survival live the strength and wisdom of our ancestors, past, present, and future.

 #neTheyKnow

View Show Program

Ways to Support:

  • Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre – Donate Now
  • Indian Residential School Survivors Society – Donate Now
  • Make a Donation to Native Earth as we continue to support Indigenous creators, develop new work, produce theatre, dance and multi-disciplinary work.
Listen Here:

or wherever you listen to your podcasts:

RUNTIME
40 Minutes

FREE
Streaming or available via RSS

Playwright Tara Beagan
Director Desirée Leverenz
Stage Manager Wei Qing Tan
Sound Designer Colanthony Humphrey
Sound Design Mentor Miquelon Rodriguez
Dramaturg Andy Moro
Performers Cheri Maracle, Damion LeClair, Cherish Violet Blood

Visual Art by Mishiikenh Kwe

Weesageechak Begins to Dance 36

WEESAGEECHAK BEGINS TO DANCE 36

Annual Development Festival of Indigenous Work

November 6-19, 2003

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The 36th edition of Weesageechak Begins to Dance will bring together 22 Creators from across Turtle Island to develop and showcase their work. Join us for excerpts from these new works in development, and conversations about artistic process, both in-person at our Aki Studio and online. In addition, we will have fantastic ancillary programming during the festival of various performers.

We invite you to join us in this amazing celebration of Indigenous theatre, dance, and multi-disciplinary works!

See Festival Schedule and links to show information below! Check back for updates on ancillary programming!

#Weesageechak36

All online presentations will be available online until the end of the festival, November 19, 2023, 11:50 PM! 

All times listed are in EST.

Festival Schedule

7:30 PM EST | Online 

Okimaw by Aren Okemaysim 
Lax Yip by Raven Grenier 
We Treaty People by Burnt Thicket Theatre (9 Audio-Dramas) 

FREE 

See show details here

7:30 PM EST | Aki Studio 

who will save the night sky by Philip Geller 

Followed by an Opening Night reception with music DJ Fawn Big Canoe and catering by Pow Wow Cafe

See show details here

7:30 PM EST | Aki Studio 

Savage is a Word in the English Dictionary by Brefny Caribou 
Mischief by Lisa Nasson 

See show details here

7:30 PM EST | Aki Studio 

Montana Adams 
Jenn Murrin 

Check back for details! 

7:30 PM EST | Aki Studio 

journals of adoption by Sophie Dow  
Blood Sport by January Rogers 

See show details here

7:30 PM EST | Aki Studio 

The Cave that Hummed a Song by Trina Moyan 
Rougarou by Damion LeClair 

See show details here

7:30 PM EST | Aki Studio 

Waawaashkesiwag Wabano by Nova Courchene 
Dreamer & the Turtle by Dakota Ray Hebert 

See show details here

7:30 PM EST | Aki Studio 

who will save the night sky by Philip Geller 
journals of adoption by Sophie Dow 
Okimaw by Aren Okemaysim (screening) 

See show details here

Music and Comedy Night

More details to be announced soon! 

Online presentations will be available online until 11:50 PM.

See show details here

W36 FESTIVAL TEAM

Festival Producer:
Lucy Coren

Assistant Producer:
Yago Mesquita

Stage Manager:
Caitlin Farley 

SUPPORTERS

Omaagomaan

Omaagomaan

Presented by Native Earth Performing Arts

Feb 15 – 18, 2024

The Anishinaabe of Grassy Narrows are resilient. They are stitching their fractured landscapes back together from the impact of mercury poisoning. Using dance, movement, sound, and storytelling, the Dora-award winning Waawaate Fobister embodies Omaagomaan, a two-spirit being, and a manifestation of the earth and man-made poisons that have seeped into the earth’s crust. A fierce shape-shifter inspired by Anishinaabeg worldview and cosmologies, Omaagomaan forces us to reckon with the ways the maanaadizi (ugly) and the onishishin (beautiful) collide. 

#neOmaagomaan

Choreography & Performance by Waawaate Fobister
Tech. Dir., SM, Lighting Design Pierre Lavoie

from Buddies in Bad Times’ Rhubarb Festival by Dahlia Katz

Visual Art by Mishiikenh Kwe

Women of the Fur Trade

Women of the Fur Trade

A co-production with National Arts Centre Indigenous Theatre & Great Canadian Theatre Company

April 9 – 21, 2024

Eighteen hundred and something something. A room in a fort on the banks of a Reddish River. This important history is brought to you by Marie-Angelique (a Métis Taurus), Cecilia (a British Virgo), Eugenia (an Ojibwe Sagittarius), Thomas Scott (an Irish Capricorn), and Louis Riel (a Métis Libra). This new production, directed by Renae Morriseau, will premiere at the National Arts Centre’s Azrieli Studio in Ottawa, in January 2024, before coming to Aki Studio.

 #neWOFT

Playwright Frances Končan
Director Renae Morriseau

April 09 and 10 - Previews 
April 11 - Opening 
April 21 - Closing

Co-presented with

Visual Art by Mishiikenh Kwe

Paprika Festival 2024

PAPRIKA FESTIVAL 2024

PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH NATIVE EARTH

May 13-19, 2024

Aki Studio

Currently in the 8th year of partnership, Paprika Festival is working with Native Earth to present the 23rd annual youth-led performing arts festival. Following a year of professional theatre training and mentorship programs, Paprika Festival showcases creations from the next generation for one full week in Aki Studio.

Paprika programs are free of cost for participants and offer exceptional training in: playwriting, performing, directing, producing, collective creation, design, and arts administration. New in 2017, through the support of Native Earth and other industry partners, Paprika Festival launched the Indigenous Arts Program to support and present the work of young Indigenous artists.

#Paprika23

This year’s Festival events are all FREE / BY DONATION, and available at these amounts:

  • FREE
  • $5 Donation – Equivalent to1 Printed Script
  • $15 – Equivalent to 1 Hour of Rehearsal Space
  • $20 – Equivalent to 2 x Participant Lunch
  • $50 – Equivalent to 1 Month of Pro Zoom
  • $100 – Equivalent to 2 Hours 1-on-1 Mentorship

Donations at the level of $50 (Equivalent to 1 Month of Pro Zoom) and $100 (Equivalent to 2 Hours 1-on-1 Mentorship) will receive a Tax Receipt after the Festival.

PURCHASE TICKETS

Paprika Festival is a theatre organization that runs year-round professional training and mentorship programs that culminate in a performing arts festival of new work by young and emerging artists. Learn more here. Welcome to the future of theatre.

2-Spirit Cabaret, 8th Edition

2-Spirit Cabaret, 8th Edition

Presented in partnership with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre

Date: June 2024

We are proud to partner once again with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre to present the eighth edition of the 2-Spirit Cabaret!

The 2-Spirit Cabaret is a celebration of the strength, beauty, and talent of queer and 2-Spirit Indigenous people through music, dance, spoken word, drag, performance art, poetry and comedy.

Visual Art by Mishiikenh Kwe

Maggie & Me: A Healing Dance

Maggie & Me: A Healing Dance

July 15-18, 2021

Dream in High Park
Canadian Stage High Park Amphitheatre

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Maggie & Me honours the legacy of women as healers in our communities.

Through her ancestral gifts and experiences, the dancer receives a contemporary healing dance. Travelling through dimensional realms of existence – spirit, dream, and present – we are invited into the dancer’s journey of healing and revitalization of the Anishinaabe culture. With a movement style that is free, lyrical and explosive, she walks into her own power.

Created by Christine Friday, the recipient of the 2018 K.M. Hunter Award for Dance, this breathtaking immersive performance shares the story of how a healing dance can strengthen communities.

SHOWTIMES

Thursday July 15  |  8:00 PM – Opening
Friday July 16  |  8:00 PM
Saturday July 17  |  8:00 PM
Sunday July 19  |  8:00 PM

Creative Team

Concept, Director, Choreography & Performance Christine Friday
Dramaturgy Supported by Robert Desrosiers and Penny Couchie
Original Lighting & Technical Direction Rasmus Sylvest
Lighting Design and Adaptation for High Park Logan Cracknell
Sound Design Rob Bertola
High Park Set Design Jamie Whitecrow 
Opening Night Hand Drum Singer Tasheena Sarazin
Cultural Support from Dr. Debby Danard
Additional Music Credits: Darren Nakogee, Tasheena Sarazin, Eddy Robinson, Gabe Gaudet, Dawn Avery, Don Kavanaugh
Stage Manager Laura Baxter 

“All our stories are in the land, all you have to do is go to the land to hear the stories, nothing is lost, and I find that empowering.”
Christine FridayRead more about her process in “Empowering the Movement Within.”
“The stage was alive with a resurgence of culture and dancing with ancestors. Rich visuals of video backdrops with maximized sound design fulfilled the senses.”
Anishinabek News
“Christine Friday is a force of nature.”
Rihkee Strapp
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Header Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann.

The Home Project

Home Project Poster

The Home Project

Originated by the Howland Company, in partnership with Native Earth Performing Arts, and presented by Soulpepper.

September 21 – October 3, 2021

Presented Live in the Soulpepper Courtyard

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The Home Project is a collaborative, multi-disciplinary, and intimate theatrical experience centred on the theme of home and how our relationships with it have changed or evolved. Building upon three artists’ memories, associations, and reflections, The Home Project combines live performance, sound, and digital media installation, examining how we are shaped by what we call home.

Five 2022 Dora Mavor Moore Award Nominations:
Outstanding Production (Independent Theatre)
Outstanding New Play – Akosua Amo-Adem, Qasim Khan, and Cheyenne Scott
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble – Akosua Amo-Adem, Qasim Khan, and Cheyenne Scott
Outstanding Lighting Design – Jareth Li
Outstanding Sound Design/Composition – David DeLeary

EXCERPT of the play

RUNTIME
90 minutes (no intermission)

TICKETS
Pay What You Choose $5, $15, $25. Each party will be sat in their own, socially distanced pods, of 1 to 4 people, according to the number chosen during checkout. If your group is larger than 4, please note that in your checkout and we will endeavour to seat you close together, but we may not be able to alter the pod sizes. 

SEATING
Each party will be sat in their own socially distanced pods of 1 to 4 people, according to the number of tickets chosen during checkout. If a group is larger than 4, please note that in the checkout and we will endeavour to seat the groups close together, but we may not be able to alter the pod sizes. 

SHOWTIMES

Tuesday September 21 | 8:00 PM – Opening
Wednesday September 22 | 8:00 PM
Thursday September 23   |  8:00 PM
Friday September 24 |  8:00 PM
Saturday September 25  |  8:00 PM
Sunday September 26  |  8:00 PM

Tuesday September 28 | 8:00PM
Wednesday September 29 | 8:00 PM
Thursday September 30   |  8:00 PM
Friday October 1 |  8:00 PM
Saturday October 2  |  8:00 PM
Sunday October 3  |  8:00 PM

CAST
Co-Creator, Performer Akosua Amo-Adem
Co-Creator, Performer Qasim Khan
Co-Creator, Performer Cheyenne Scott

CREATIVE TEAM
Co-director & Dramaturg  Keith Barker
Co-director & Dramaturg Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster
Co-director & Dramaturg Paolo Santalucia
Dramaturg Isaac Thomas
Production Designer Jareth Li
Sound Designer, David Deleary
Stage Manager Sam Hale

‘“What is home?” A deceptively simple question, one that opens the floodgates for a tidal wave of entangled notions of self, family and place. […] Three artists give us intimate, compelling examinations of this fraught concept in The Home Project.’
Istvan ReviewsReview by Istvan Dugalin
“[These] characters are versions of themselves in varying degrees, linked by a shared longing for a sense of home. The result is a winning, thoughtful exercise in storytelling”
Globe and MailReview by Brad Wheeler
“The idea of ‘home’ – it can be tangible, a fixed address, or more of a feeling, a memory. It can be fraught, an ongoing question mark. It can be absent. After a year of stay-at-home-orders, it’s exciting to work with these three artists to ask specifically what ‘home’ means to them.”
Courtney Ch’ng LancasterCo-Director & Dramaturg of The Home Project and an Artistic Leader of The Howland Company.
“Home can be a place, a memory, a smell, a song; it takes you back to what made you today. It is never inconsequential and always what we return to. As we continue to emerge back into society, we invite you to join three very talented artists as they bring the intimacy of their stories of home to you.”
Keith BarkerCo-Director & Dramaturg of The Home Project, Artistic Director of Native Earth Performing Arts.
“We are so grateful to be partnering with Native Earth Performing Arts to bring this project to life. It is exciting to be entering a creative space again with artists who are as invested in collaboration as Keith Barker and Isaac Thomas have been. It feels so invigorating to be working with fellow companies, like Soulpepper, to finally bring the shared experience of live theatre back for our audiences.”
Paolo SantaluciaCo-Director & Dramaturg of The Home Project and an Artistic Leader of The Howland Company.
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Logo The Howland Company

The Home Project is produced with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Header Photo of Qasim Khan, Cheyenne Scott, and Akosua Amo-Adem by Dahlia Katz.

CAMINOS 2021

CAMINOS 2021

A MULTI-ARTS  FESTIVAL OF WORKS-IN-PROGRESS FROM THE TRANSAMERICAN EXPERIENCE

October 12-24, 2021

PRESENTED BY ALUNA THEATRE
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH NATIVE EARTH AND FACTORY THEATRE

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Creating our path as we go! Welcome to CAMINOS, where ideas take form. It showcases 32 groups and over 100 artists, and conversations about performance from across the Americas.

With a combination of digital and live performances / installations, CAMINOS will be able to bring to you, for the first time, artists from across Turtle Island and beyond. For two weeks, emerging and established voices will share exciting perspectives on creating in a time that demands equity, justice and inclusion.

Now in its 4th edition, this biennial festival is presented by Aluna Theatre in partnership with Native Earth Performing Arts and Factory Theatre.

For more details, visit caminos.ca.
#alunaCAMINOS

Online with several installations and public space performances


Tickets: Pay-What-You-Can Afford sliding scale, from free-$50

VIRTUAL THEATRE CHALLENGE

VENUES

TUESDAY OCTOBER 12   |  7:00 PM

A🇧🇷, 47 (or) A, Brazil flag emoji, 47 (Yago Mesquitai)
Online

Savage is a Word in the English Dictionary (Brefny Caribou)
Online

Taura (Inamorata Dance Collective)
Online

THURSDAY OCTOBER 14
1:00 PM

Where I matter most (Kevin Jones)
Aki Studio

7:00 PM

La Mujer Fragmentada (María Escolán)
Online

Not Your Mija (J+A Collective)
Online

Siwat Piedra (Irma Villafuerte)
Online

Trapped (Ay, Caramba! Theatre)
Online

8:00 PM

To My Past, Present and Future… (Nickeshia Garrick)
Factory Theatre

SATURDAY OCTOBER 16
1:00 PM

Quiero-Estar-Contigo (Mala Collective)
Factory Theatre

Where I matter most (Kevin Jones)
Aki Studio

7:00 PM

I love the smell of gasoline (Claren Grosz)
Online

Se Forman Grietas//Cracks Form (Sebastian Marziali)
Online

TAOS 2.0 (B’atz’)
Online

SUNDAY OCTOBER 17
10:00 AM

Ghostly Fables
Theatre Direct

1:00 PM

Ghostly Fables
Theatre Direct

TUESDAY OCTOBER 19  |  7:00 PM

12 litres / 88 hundred steps (Anita La Selva)
Online

Beneath The Mask (Martha Chaves)
Online

Lo Que Sí Necesitas (Paula Carreño)
Online

Muñeca (Aracely Reyes)
Online

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21
1:00 PM

Pandora in the Box (Lorena Torres Loaiza)
Aki Studio

Rocking Futures (Renato Baldin)
Factory Theatre

7:00 PM

A Redacted Communist Manifesto for Children (Bruce Gibbons Fell)
Online

Innombrable (Margarita Soria)
Online

Login Password Logout (Rhoma Spencer)
Online

Universo de textos, pt. 1-6 (Sofía Ontiveros)
Online

8:00 PM

The Mermaid Project (Ximena Huizi)
Factory Theatre

SATURDAY OCTOBER 23
1:00 PM

Pandora in the Box (Lorena Torres Loaiza)
Aki Studio

Rocking Futures (Renato Baldin)
Factory Theatre

5:00 PM

PARTYPEOPLE (Jord & Liz)
Garrison Common, 100 Garrison Rd.

7:00 PM

HAVOC (Heath V. Salazar)
Online

Park Life (Janis Mayers)
Online

Red & White (Sandra Lamouche)
Online

Sinvergüenzilla in First Kiss (Jessica Zepeda)
Online

8:00 PM

The Mermaid Project (Ximena Huizi)
Factory Theatre

SUNDAY OCTOBER 24
1:00 PM

Dove-Sewing Circle (Paola Gomez / MUSE Arts)
Earlscourt Park (St Clair West / Caledonia Rd. Entrance)

5:00 PM 

PARTYPEOPLE (Jord & Liz)
Garrison Common, 100 Garrison Rd.

Performance order to be announced each evening.
View show descriptions and artist bios.

Online Presentations:

You must register in advance for each live digital programming evening you’d like to attend. Tickets are available at a Pay-What-You-Can-Afford sliding scale, from $5 – $50. If cost is a barrier, we invite you to select the free registration option instead.

Once you register for an evening, you will receive a unique password for that evening’s program one hour before showtime. We hope you’ll join us live, but all codes will allow you access for the event you registered for until October 31, 2021.

In-Person Events:

CAMINOS also features a number of live, public realm installations. These are free walk-up events. No tickets are required. Click here for more details regarding in-person venue locations.

Preseted by

In partnership with

Native Earth Performing Arts

Weesageechak Begins to Dance 34

Weesageechak Begins to Dance 34

Annual Development Festival of New Indigenous Work

NOVEMBER 17 - 27 2021
Online

Weesageechak Begins to Dance is back! The 34th festival will once again be presented virtually, and feature multiple artists exploring land-based creation processes.

Join us for a hysterical night of the IndigE-girl Comedy Night, immersive dance films, and the culmination of the Animikiig Creators’ work in their final year. Many of these pieces will be produced nationally next year, so get your special preview now.

We cannot wait to celebrate online with you theatre, dance, and multidisciplinary creations from across Turtle Island from November 17 – 27, 2021.

#Weesageechak34

Join the Virtual Theatre Challenge

W34 FESTIVAL TEAM

Festival Producing Team:
Sue Balint
Martin Nishikawa

Festival Designer/Head Tech:
B.C. Batty

Hot Brown Honey

Hot Brown Honey

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IN ASSOCIATION WITH NATIVE EARTH
AND WHY NOT THEATRE

Hot Brown Honey turns up the heat, delivering lashings of sass and a hot pinch of empowerment in the smash-hit that has taken the world by storm. Packing a punch of hip hop politics, the Honeys will make you laugh, cry, clap and shake what your mama gave you. This stellar posse of phenomenal women make noise as they defiantly smash stereotypes and remix the system. Fighting the power never tasted so sweet.

Featuring six multi-talented indigenous women from the South Pacific, this neo-burlesque collective perform a full throttle show accompanied by a pounding soundtrack spun by ‘Queen Bee’ Busty Beatz, from atop her glowing hive.

WARNING: Contains sexuality, drug references, nudity and coarse language. May also cause feelings of liberation.

For tickets, visit ticketmaster.ca.

Friday April 5  |  8 pm
Saturday April 6  |  8 pm

TO Live’s mission is to connect audiences and communities with inspiring local and international artists, activate creative spaces to elevate artistic potential, and reflect the full breadth of Toronto’s diversity through creative expression. Learn more.

Why Not Theatre is an agile, international theatre company based in Toronto, Canada, rooted in the values of innovation, community and collaboration. Why Not’s work is inventive, cross-cultural, and reflects their passion for the exploration of difference. Learn more.

Mura Buai (Everyone Everyone)

Mura Buai (Everyone Everyone)

A FORCE MAJEURE PRODUCTION (AUSTRALIA) IN COLLABORATION WITH FRIDAY CREEATIONS AND AANMITAAGZI

As part of CAMINOS 2019, Native Earth presents Mura Buai (Everyone, Everyone), co-directed by award-winning Torres Strait Islander artist Ghenoa Gela and Artistic Director of Force Majeuere Danielle Micich.

Mura Buai (Everyone, Everyone) features Torres Strait Islander performers in collaboration with local Indigenous performers from Turtle Island, creating a captivating work that uses stories and movement inspired by traditional practices, contemporary dance and sport. From this playful choreographed-yet-improvised environment come relationships and meaning that shift and change depending on your perspective. A thoughtful work infused with a sense of the past, this powerful international collaborative piece explores strength, tradition and identity.

This collaborative journey begins at the Big Medicine Studio to the National Arts Centre to Toronto for final showings at Aki Studio.

RUNTIME
60 minutes

TICKETS

General  |  $20
Senior, Student, Arts Worker  |  $10

 

SHOWTIMES

Thursday October 3  |  7:30 PM
Friday October 4  |  7:30 PM
Saturday October 5  |  7:30 PM

Co-Directors Ghenoa Gela, Danielle Micich
Performers Sid Bobb, Josée Bourgeois, Luke Currie-Richardson, Christine Friday (Canadian Producer), Taryn Laleen, Berthalia Selina Reuben

Mura Buai is produced by Force Majeure in collaboration with Friday Creeations and Aanmitaagzi, and supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, and the NSW Government through Create NSW.

One of Australia’s most celebrated arts companies, Force Majeure produced critically acclaimed dance theatre. Using its unique blend of storytelling and movement, the company creates award-winning works by exploring and questioning contemporary culture.

Founded by Anishinaabekwe dance artist Christine Friday, Friday Creeations is a film and stage production company which combines traditional and contemporary dance elements.

Aanmitaagzi is an Indigenous multi-disciplinary artist-run company based in Nipissing First Nation, committed to fostering a vibrant arts community through projects that promote well-being, strengthen land relationships, and incorporate intergenerational approaches.

This Is How We Got Here

THIS IS HOW WE GOT HERE

PRODUCED BY NATIVE EARTH PERFORMING ARTS
PRESENTED BY THE SHAW FESTIVAL

February 9 – 19, 2022

Jackie Maxwell Studio Theatre

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Meet Lucille, Paul, Liset and Jim. Best friends, sisters, spouses – stumbling in the dark one year after a tragic loss. They struggle to find each other again, when a mysterious fox shows up with a curious gift. Simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming, This Is How We Got Here is a complex and hopeful story of letting go.

FINALIST of the 2018 Governor General Literary Award for Drama
WINNER of the 2020 Carol Bolt Award
WINNER of the 2020 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play

Education Resources
EXCERPT of the play
Previously presented at Native Earth

TICKETS

Platinum: $28.25 – $66.67
Gold: $28.25 – $49.72
Blue: $28.25 – $36.16
Purple: $27.12

Wednesday February 9  | 1:00 PM – P, SM
Thursday February 10  | 1:00 PM – P, SM, SEA
Friday February 11  |  1:00 PM – SM
Friday February 11  |  7:00 PM
Saturday February 12  |  6:00 PM – O, SOLD OUT

Thursday February 17 | 1:00 PM – SM, SEA
Thursday February 17 | 7:00 PM – SEA
Friday February 18  |  1:00 PM – SM
Saturday February 19  | 1:00 PM – SM
Saturday February 19  | 7:00 PM – F

P: Preview  |  SM: Special Matinee  |  SEA: Shaw Express Available
O: Opening  |  F: Final Performance

CAST
Lucille –  Nicole Joy-Fraser
Paul – Kristopher Bowman
Liset – Jenn Forgie
Jim – Jonathan Fisher

CREATIVE TEAM 
Playwright & Director Keith Barker
Production Elder Albert Choken
Set Designer Shannon Lea Doyle
Associate Set Designer Kara Pankiw
Costume Designer Isidra Cruz
Lighting Designer Jennifer Lennon
Music and Sound Designer Christopher Stanton
Fight Director Richard Comeau

"…a down-to-earth drama that is as hopeful as it is mournful, full of life and lovable characters”
J.Kelly NestruckThe Globe and Mail
“The dextrous telling of a familiar story..how reconnecting is not only possible but necessary.”
Lisa McKeownNow Magazine
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The War Being Waged

THE WAR BEING WAGED

BY DARLA CONTOIS
A NATIVE EARTH PRESENTATION OF
A PRAIRIE THEATRE EXCHANGE DIGITAL PRODUCTION

March 1 – April 3, 2022

Online

An Indigenous mother becomes an activist while her brother becomes a soldier. A grandmother raises a granddaughter with love, in community. A granddaughter full of turmoil, finds her voice. Three generations of Indigenous women are woven into this new work by Winnipeg-based theatre artist Darla Contois. And three performance genres tell their story – monologue, poetry with video and movement, and contemporary dance – all tied together by the playwright’s story and an all-encompassing set design that has built a world for all three to live inside.

From the Playwright:
“The story you are about to experience is incredibly personal to me. It is based on one of my deepest fears, my experiences and as well is a response to one of the most important questions we ask ourselves as Indigenous people: What are you fighting for? 

In it you will find remnants of real people, real conflicts and real relationships. I hope you’re ready to listen with an open heart.”

RUNTIME
60 minutes

TICKETS

Pay-What-You-Can
Note: Upon purchase, you will receive a confirmation email with the direct URL to the presentation. Please scroll to the bottom of the email to access the link! For any inquiries, please contact Alex Frankes at [email protected]. 

AUDIENCE ADVISORY

This production contains strobe lighting
Each party will be sat in their own socially distanced pods of 1 to 4 people, according to the number of tickets chosen during checkout. If a group is larger than 4, please note that in the checkout and we will endeavour to seat the groups close together, but we may not be able to alter the pod sizes. 

FEATURING:
Tracey Nepinak
Emily Solstice Tait
and the voice of Tantoo Cardinal

CREATIVE TEAM 
Director Thomas Morgan Jones
Associate Director Darla Contois
Set/Lighting/Projection Designer Andy Moro
Costume Designer Andy Moro with Brenda McLean
Composer/Sound Designer MJ Dandeneau
Choreographer Jera Wolfe
Stage Manager Karyn Kumhyr
Assistant Stage Manager Mike Duggan
Make-up Artist Aileen Audette