Native Earth is pleased to present the Culture Storm production of Stitch by Cliff Cardinal. Since 2013, Culture Storm and Cliff Cardinal have been developing this production in order to bring the talents of Cliff Cardinal, considered one of Canada’s brightest emerging talents, to the stage. When Culture Storm approached Native Earth for support with venue, box office, tech and marketing we were thrilled to support their production. By helping to support like-minded community organizations in their initiatives we are able to share our space through in-kind support with organizations to create a platform for Indigenous writers. Through these types of partnerships we are able to expand our audiences and create cross-culture platforms to expand the visibility of Indigenous talent, like Cliff Cardinal, across Canada.
This is a one-woman play by an Indigenous playwright, where the main character’s ethnicity is unspecified. This presentation was planned and cast before our recent co-production of The Unplugging and the issues raised by the casting of that play. The dialogue about The Unplugging has prompted considerable reflection by the Native Earth management and Board of Directors, resulting in the recent statement, posted on this website, which is our clear intention going forward. In light of that, we wrestled with the potential contradiction that might be seen in our role presenting Stitch, given the script and casting. The most honorable course is to keep our commitment, to proceed with this presentation as planned, and to support all the artists who are part of this production. Native Earth renews our commitment to cast only Indigenous actors in Indigenous roles going forward.
Ryan Cunningham Isaac Thomas
Artistic Director Managing Director