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Welcoming our Animikiig Creators’ 2022-23 cohort in their first year of their program!
Learn about Animikiig Creators Unit here.
Tonight’s presentation will be a FREE in-person screening of the Animikiig works in Aki Studio.*
Or stream online, available until the end of the festival, November 20, 2022.
*Vaccine and mask mandate are in place.
Danica Charlie (she/they) is a mixed Nuu-chah-nulth/settler & queer actor, and 2021 graduate from the Canadian College of Performing Arts. They are based in the stolen and unceded territories of the Lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples, now referred to as “Victoria”.
She is grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the 2022-2023 Animikiig Creators Unit, as well as doing playwriting mentorships under Intrepid Theatre’s Indigenous Artist Program, and Puente Theatre’s WorkPlay Residency.
Danica works collaboratively with all-queer devised/physical theatre collective, Extended Space Theatre, as an actor/writer/co-collaborator, presenting their original pieces at SKAMpede and the Victoria Fringe Festival.
When they are not writing, you can catch them performing on the west coast.
Credits include: Sas’qets in Th’owxiya: The Hungry Feast Dish (Axis Theatre), Miskozi in White Girls in Moccasins (the frank theatre), Mary Jane in The Incredible Adventures of Mary Jane Mosquito (Kaleidoscope Theatre), Imogen in Cymbeline (GVSF), as well as two staged readings with Kim Senklip Harvey.
When she has time, Danica likes to cuddle with her cat Lily.
A study of the earth’s magnetic field over 481 years.
Creator and Performer Caleigh Crow
Mentor Tara Beagan
Actors Nathan Howe, Joelle Peters, Cheyenne Scott
Caleigh Crow is a queer theatre artist from Mohkinstsis of Metis and settler parents. Previous playwriting topics include: a talking crow and a grocery clerk, the mass coronal ejection of 1859, the Antifa Supersoldier, the intersection between 12th century Franciscan nuns and Britney Spears, remote viewing, witch revenge, and a landlord musical. She is the co-founder and Artistic Lead of Thumbs Up Good Work Theatre. Caleigh also plays bass guitar in the band Pope Joan. Her work tends towards themes of metaphysics, class struggle, magic, and joy.
In 1899, Jake “Saiowisakeron” “Ice” Fire was shot in a struggle between a group of Mohawk men and the dominion police in the district of St. Regis in Akwesasne. This struggle was the culmination of over ten years of resistance from the Mohawk people against the Canadian government. In this piece, Jake Ice, his brother, and his wife pays us a visit through spirit and memory.
Content Warning: Police brutality, racism.
Creator and Performer Montana Adams
Mentor Monique Mojica
Actors Ange Loft, James Dallas Smith, Yago Mesquita
Montana Adams is a theatre creator based out of Akwesasne. She began her theatre career in the indie theatre scene while she was at the University of Ottawa, where she received a BA in Theatre, and currently is working towards her Masters in theatre. In 2019 she participated in the Ottawa Fringe Festival and won the Emerging Artist Award for her play My Good Friend Jay, which was remounted online with the NYC Indian Community House’s Native Theatre Thursdays, and in-person at the 2022 Undercurrents Festival. Currently she works at the Native North American Travelling College, and is a festival producer for the Fresh Meat theatre festival in Ottawa. She has worked with a bunch of productions as either an actor, playwright, a director, mentor, or all of the above. Her hope is to create theatre with culturally informed practices that are specific to the traditions and beliefs of the Akwesasronnon.
After living away in Toronto for years, a young Mi’kmaw woman must return home to the east coast for her Pop’s funeral. This piece uncovers the importance of intergenerational knowledge transmission and what could happen if we forget to tell our stories.
Creator Jennifer Alicia Murrin
Mentor Donna-Michelle St. Bernard
Actors Gordon Patrick-White, Lisa Cromarty, Merewyn Comeau
Jennifer Alicia Murrin (she/they) is a queer, mixed Mi’kmaw and settler (German/Irish/Scottish) multidisciplinary artist originally from Elmastukwek, Ktaqmkuk (Bay of Islands, Newfoundland), now residing in Toronto. She is a two-time national poetry slam champion and collective member of the Toronto Poetry Project and Seeds & Stardust. In 2021, her debut chapbook Mixed Emotions was released and she was also published in Issue 09 of Canthius Magazine and NOW Magazine. They presented their play with the working title Restor(y)ing Identity at the first ever Nogojiwanong Indigenous Fringe Festival in 2021. An audio version of the play was presented at the Weesageechak Begins To Dance 33 Festival in 2020 and at imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in 2021. Jennifer Alicia recently edited an Indigenous poetry anthology called The Condor and the Eagle Meet, which was released in May 2022 through Kegedonce Press. Find out more about her work at: jenniferalicia.com.