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| cousins addy, trevor and sharon, myself, and one great auntie hazel |
My mom (and all her kids, of course) is Ntlaka’pamux from the Coldwater Band, and I am happy to say our annual summer holiday trips brought us to B.C. to hang out with cousins and lovingly torment aunties. It was on one of these trips that I learned, for the first time, that young people on reserve were just as likely to be victims of abductions as us kids from the big city of Lethbridge. Not until I was an adult did I begin to understand the real level of violence perpetrated against our women and girls.
When I started working, in earnest, through the stories of our missing and murdered women and girls, the story that kept calling to me the strongest was one close to home. My mom and I had some conversations about this very real, very heartbreaking story, and that led to a phone call. The mother of one such missing, murdered girl is a cousin to my mom. They spoke and caught up over a series of calls. That led to my own relationship with this strong woman, and permission from her to write of her late daughter.
The writing came, as through ancestors, in a mighty current of words and images. I tend to take this as an indication that I’m doing the right thing. Five days after beginning the writing, I was in a studio with Andy and the wonderful Métis actor Michaela Washburn. The work ran deep, and Washburn, a true empath, carried a great deal of the spiritual burden in this piece. Her self-care had to expand when we went into full rehearsals. Her performance at SummerWorks was breathtaking. When that brief run closed, I began to work with my contact (and cousin!) to bring the play to B.C. In spite of best efforts, the granting bodies didn’t support our proposed community tour. We agreed we'd try again.
Meanwhile, the work was growing in a good way, and with the support of the OAC’s TCR program, through recommenders Native Earth Performing Arts (NEPA), and then through a residency at Cahoots Theatre. This development led to another public workshop session, with Factory Theatre’s now defunct CrossCurrents Festival. For this round, actor PJ Prudat brought a new approach to the work that further illuminated its path, and with such gentle grace. It was this time that Andy introduced video.
As ever, life takes its many complex turns. My own path led me to a multitude of other artistic pursuits, and in 2011, into the chair of NEPA’s AD. My time serving in that position clocked in just under three years, yet somehow I have aged thirty. I used to laugh when former AD Yvette Nolan would ask “What fresh hell is this?” to the tone of the office phone ringing. Of course, in Yvette’s storied era, there was also lots of laughing and frequent dance breaks. This was something I did not do enough of during my time.
In Spirit was programmed for 2013/14 in response to a trying though bright transitional time at NEPA. None of this is private information - NEPA issued a press release postponing Kenneth Williams’ play, Deserters back when the difficult decision was made to do so. The move into Daniels Spectrum and the Aki Studio Theatre took a toll on the company in every way. It was a risk worth taking, no question, and I applaud former GM Donna Michelle St. Bernard for her courage, as well as the board for believing it was all possible.
In Spirit is a strong work, and affordable, with one sole actor - perfect for then struggling NEPA. NEPA was also blessed for the coming 2013/14 season by the partnership Aluna Theatre offered with their Rutas Panamericanas festival. Seven years after its SummerWorks debut, In Spirit would make its full production debut. With originating actor Washburn and ensuing actor Prudat pursuing other artistic and alternative paths, it was our good fortune that we were gifted with a bright new talent, in shape of Sera-Lys McArthur.
Sera-Lys is an immaculately skilled and astonishingly talented actor, who trained in NYC and the UK, returning to her roots with stage work on Where the Blood Mixes (Western Canada Theatre, Theatre Aquarius and Theatre Network) Smoke (Mixed Phoenix) and now In Spirit.
The consummately patient Mike Lewandowski has completed our foursome, and traveled with us, camera in hand, to B.C. and back again. The public debut was at Full Circle’s Talking Stick festival in Vancouver. Our team fell in love with the festival, the Roundhouse Theatre and their space tech, Terry. This experience was classy, inclusive, respectful, organized, and warm - a proverbial blanket enfolding us in the chilly west coast rain.
The night that moves me to write today is the night a particular group of twenty came to see In Spirit. This group included my mom’s cousin and my contact throughout this writing process - more about that night in a moment. As the debut approached, this woman, mother and grandmother, who has endured more than anyone should, became concerned about the impact of this play on her family’s right to hold memory as they wish. I offered to change details of this already fictionalized play, as well as its title, in service of this right, and to demonstrate to my friend that I move from a place of good. In addition to this, my cousin Sharon, who booked our anchor tour date, offered to cancel the presentation of In Spirit in the interior - a generous act of good will. The revised script was given to the concerned family, and passed along to investigating officers who actively work on cases included in the Highway of Tears. It was decided, unequivocally, that the play was in no way harmful to the investigations, and some opined that the play illuminates the all too many unresolved cases in a good way.
On the night of the group of twenty, Margo Kane very wisely asked Elder Shane Pointe to welcome the audience, and offer a protective song at the show’s beginning and end. This is reminiscent of the Maori practice of beginning and ending a session of artistic mahi with a karakia. People are invited to come into the story and then restored in the present moment when the telling concludes. The group of twenty included sixteen family members of one missing and murdered girl, and four investigating officers who work intimately with this family and others. This group braved a journey into this work with us. Talking Stick, Native Earth and I all worked together to ensure their attendance when it was decided they should like to attend. They came. Some wept. Some spoke of it as a healing experience. Above any review, beyond any acclaim, this validated our long and laboured journey.
Yours in profound gratitude,
Tara
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