Indigenous
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: The Thanksgiving Play wriggles in performative wokeness
In 2024, is there a way to produce an engaging, culturally sensitive play about the first American Thanksgiving for elementary schoolers? The Thanksgiving Play, penned by Native American playwright Larissa FastHorse and now playing at Mirvish’s CAA Theatre, poses that question in its first five minutes, then throws the query out with the cranberry sauce in its madcap exploration of a devised theatre piece at an unnamed primary school.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: 1939 finds tremendous power in the things left unspoken
Jani Lauzon’s production, now playing at Canadian Stage, paints a sharp portrait of a fictional residential school, but uses wide swathes of negative space to its advantage.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
In 1939, Indigenous students bring their living culture to one of the Bard’s problem plays
“There’s no monolithic experience of residential school,” says co-playwright and director Jani Lauzon. “There are some really extraordinary plays already written about residential schools that deal with that [more tragic] lens. We set out to write a different kind of play, with a different gaze.”
iPhoto caption: Theresa Cutknife headshot by Dahlia Katz.
Speaking in Draft: Theresa Cutknife
“Of course, we all have to make money and make different sacrifices just to pay the bills, because this city is so horribly overpriced,” says Cutknife. “But why? Why do we have to suffer to feel like we’ve paid our dues to the industry?”