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Indigenous

Soulpepper's production of Takwahiminana iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.

REVIEW: Takwahiminana explores what healing means when the past never quite lets go

While playwright Matthew MacKenzie’s lyrical storytelling is always a delight, there’s something astringent and detached about Takwahiminana that produces a distancing effect, preventing it from reaching the emotional highs of his other recent work.

By Ilana Lucas / May 7, 2025
the thanksgiving play 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.

By Aisling Murphy / Oct 6, 2024
1939 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.

By Aisling Murphy / Sep 23, 2024
1939 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.”

By Nathaniel Hanula-James / Sep 19, 2024