Honour Beat 2018-19 Season
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Contents 2
Cast & Creative Team
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Setting & Who’s Who
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Synopsis
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Interesting Facts
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Terms to Know
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The Art of Smudging
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The Impulse to the Word: An Interview with Playwright Tara Beagan
Jamie Tymchuk & Steve Gin
Connect Theatre Calgary
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The Severed Bond and the Awakened Spirit
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Honour Beat Movie Night
Questions?
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Further Reading
Email jtymchuk@theatrecalgary.com
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Conversation Starters
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Educational Exercises
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Sources
@theatrecalgary @theatrecalgary
Honour Beat was commissioned by Theatre Calgary through FUSE: New Play Development Program.
220 9 Ave SE Calgary, AB T2G 5C4 403-294-7440 theatrecalgary.com
Front Cover Illustration: Andrea Ucini
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At Theatre Calgary we strive to create a welcoming, inclusive and safe environment for diverse communities. To formally open our productions, Theatre Calgary will pay tribute and recognize the Indigenous people of the Treaty 7 region as the past, present and future stewards of this land where our performance takes place. In response to the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action, the act of giving territorial or land acknowledgement has now become best practice across Canada. In our efforts to embrace the language and spirit of reconciliation, we recognize that our practice will evolve as Theatre Calgary strengthens our relationships within local Indigenous communities and with artists. Theatre Calgary is committed to maintaining regular engagement with Indigenous and community leaders for consultation on best practices.
Territorial Acknowledgement Welcome to Theatre Calgary. We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge that this performance is taking place on Treaty 7, signed at Blackfoot Crossing in 1877. We are on the traditional territories of the peoples of Treaty 7 including the three Blackfoot Nations: consisting of the Siksika, Piikani, Kainai Nations; the Stoney Nakoda Nations: consisting of the Bearspaw, Wesley and Chiniki Nations; and the Tsuu T’ina Nation. The city of Calgary is also home to Métis Nation of Alberta, Region III. We are grateful to have the opportunity to present in this territory.
The Basics
Cast & Creative Team By Tara Beagan Mom Paul-Jean Prudat
Anna-Rae Monique Mojica
Rae-Anna Tracey Nepinak
Spanish Bernard Starlight
Director Michelle Thrush
Set & Projection Design Andy Moro
Costume Design Jeff Chief
Lighting Design Patrick Beagan
Original Music & Vocals Pura Fé
Sound Design Deanna H. Choi
Dramaturg Jenna Turk
Vocal Coach Jane MacFarlane
Elder-in-Residence Marion Lerat
TC Mentee, Set & Projections Imajyn Cardinal
Stage Manager Ruby Dawn Eustaquio
Assistant Stage Manager Sang-Sang Lee
Head of Lighting Catharine Crumb
Head of Sound Chris Jacko
Head Stage Carpenter Scott Morris
Head Dresser Rachel Michelle Sheridan 2
“Getting old is tough, but the alternative is tougher. Until it isn’t. And then it’s time to go.” - Mom, Honour Beat
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The Basics
Setting
Synopsis
A palliative hospital room in Toronto, present day. 4 in the morning.
The play opens in a palliative hospital room with Rae-Anna sitting next to a bed that holds her unconscious Mom. She watches a video from six months ago that shows her mother at her actual age. Anna-Rae arrives soon after, having just returned from a Sundance ceremony in South Dakota. Immediately the tension between the sisters builds. Arguing over everything from the colour of their mother’s nightgown and the importance of spiritual traditional practice, to the state of their mother’s care.
Who’s Who Mom A warm and loving woman in her 80s. She is reflected by a younger woman, showing when she felt her strongest and happiest. Rae-Anna The strong minded younger sister. She is a proud mother of two and lives in Vancouver. Anna-Rae The adventurous and spiritual older sister. Mom has been living with her in Toronto.
Not long after, Spanish, with coffees in hand, enters the room briefly, introducing himself to Rae as a friend of her Mom’s and Anna’s. Anna explains he is also a nurse but is met with Rae’s indifference. In need of a break, Rae goes outside leaving Anna and her Mom alone. Although Mom remains unchanged, she wakes to Anna and they share tender and loving conversation. Concurrently, we see Rae outside listening to music. Spanish finds her and tries to explain the circumstances surrounding his presence, only to find his words have fallen on deaf ears. As the story develops, we learn more of the women’s past, including Mom’s traumatic experience at a residential school, the sisters not sharing the same father, and that there is more to Spanish’s role in all of this. Nearing the inevitable conclusion, it is revealed that their mother has taken legal steps to end her life with assistance. Through the words of Mom and a realized understanding in each other, Rae and Anna are finally able to find trust, forgiveness and love as they share their Mom’s final moments together.
Spanish A kind and intelligent care worker and licensed nurse practitioner.
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Explorations
Interesting Facts Indigenous peoples is a collective name for the original peoples of North America and their descendants. More than 1.67 million Canadians identify as an Indigenous person. The Canadian Constitution recognizes three groups of Indigenous persons: First Nations, Inuit and MĂŠtis. These are three distinct peoples with unique languages, histories, cultural and spiritual beliefs. Indigenous persons continue to advocate for the right to self-identify.
The last residential school operated by the Canadian government closed in 1996 in Saskatchewan. In Alberta, the last residential school closed in 1975. At its peak in the early 1930s, it is estimated there were approximately 80 schools with more than 17, 000 enrolled students.
In Canada, hospice and palliative care are used to refer to the same thing, which is aimed at relieving suffering and improving the quality of life for those living with or dying from an advanced illness. Medical Assistance in Dying, or MAID, is a recently passed Canadian Government legislation. Participants must meet the eligible criteria, and the service must be overseen by a physician or licensed nurse practitioner.
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Explorations
Terms to Know Sundance A sacred ceremony performed by some Indigenous people in honour of the sun. It usually involves a community gathering and praying for healing. Individuals may make personal sacrifices, such as fasting.
Smudging A ceremony practiced by some Indigenous peoples, that involves the burning of sacred herbs, in some cases for spiritual cleansing or blessing. For more information, please look at Page 8 of this Play Guide.
Matriarch A strong woman who is head of a family or tribe
Elder Indigenous Elders can be men, women or non-binary persons with deep spirituality that has earned them respect among their community. Some of their duties could be to conduct smudging ceremonies or open prayer.
Moccasins Historically the footwear of Indigenous people of North America. Often made of deerskin or other soft leather.
Fasting A willing abstinence from food and/or drinks for a period of time, as part of ceremony. Medicine Wheel Represents the alignment and connection of oneself to the natural and spiritual world, through physical, emotions, mental, and spiritual realities. It can be displayed in various ways and the significance and use can differ among Indigenous cultures.
Medicine Wheel
Elk hide and beaver fur moccasins. Wikimedia Commons
Sage smudge.Wikimedia Commons
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Explorations
The Art of Smudging Spiritual smoke created from the burning of sacred and/or medicinal plants and herbs is practiced in many cultures and religions around the world. In Canada, it is a common practice with many Indigenous peoples and is referred to as ‘smudging.’ Of course, it is important to remember as there are many Indigenous groups, and this is a culturally traditional practice, there can be varying beliefs, thoughts, details, and ceremonies unique with smudging to the specific culture. This is a general introduction into the art of smudging. Although smudging traditions can vary, they typically share certain elements. For instance, smudging is often led by an elder or spiritual leader, though anyone can smudge, and it is especially done in times of needed healing or prayer. All smudging ceremonies require a shell, fireproof bowl, smudge stick, rock, or ball in which the plants and herbs are lit. The smoke created has healing and cleansing properties that a person inhales as it is wafted over the face and body, either with their hand(s), a fan, or a feather. When a room is being smudged, the smoke is directed around the area and the person conducting the ceremony prays for the negative energy to leave and the positive energy to remain. The healing powers of plants is not a new concept. In smudging there are four particular sacred medicinal plants often used, and although there are many others, Indigenous peoples usually will utilize these four, as well as those that are specific to their region.
Sacred Tobacco: Tobacco is said to be the pathway to the spirit world. Tobacco is often used as an offering or gift. Tobacco can be substituted with a blend of other plants, such as kinnikinnick and the bark of the red osier dogwood. This tobacco is very different from cigarette tobacco. Sweetgrass: Known for its sweet scent that is intensified when burned. It is said to attract the good spirit and used for purification of the spirit, and to eliminate negative thoughts. Sage: A medicinal plant with strong physical healing properties. Two types of sage are: white sage and desert sage. White sage is commonly used in smudging to release troubles of the mind and/or remove negative energies. For some, white sage smoke is believed to provide a barrier that prevents negative spirits from entering the room in which the ceremony is being held. Desert sage has properties that protect cells from toxins and organisms in the environment that cause infections; it is anti-fungal, antiseptic and an astringent.
“It is especially done in times of needed healing or prayer.” Cedar: Burned to carry prayers to the Creator. Also aids in ridding the mind and body of negative energies and ushering in positive ones. When cedar is burned with tobacco, a crackling occurs, which is said to call the attention of the Spirits to the offering that is being made.
Field of sweetgrass. Wikimedia Commons
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continued from previous page
Explorations
Indigenous spiritual traditions were greatly repressed during colonization. Although the Indian Act did not explicitly ban smudging, as it did the Sundance (until 1951), it did outlaw Indigenous culture in a broad sense, which smudging plays a great part. Fortunately, smudging is still prominent today due to Indigenous resistance, and through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action we have started to see awareness and acceptance of Indigenous healing practices in Canada. In fact, because Indigenous patients find smudging a vital component of healing and prayer, hospitals are increasingly modifying their policies to accommodate this practice, as shown in Honour Beat.
The Impulse to the Word: An Interview with Playwright Tara Beagan
Smudging is an Indigenous tradition that involves deeply spiritual practice, though practice by nonIndigenous Peoples continues to increase in popularity. In some cases this can lead to the sale of inauthentic tools and ceremonies that are spiritually and culturally insensitive. If you are interested in smudging ceremonies, it is recommended you respectfully seek advice from those with Indigenous ancestry and ceremonial knowledge. If you are invited to participate in a smudge and are unsure of proper etiquette, ask someone knowledgeable what to do.
We are so excited to be debuting your touching and humorous play, Honour Beat, this fall as the first show of our 51st Season. Having written over 20 plays, six of which have been published, what goes in to the writing of a play? How long have you been working on this particular project?
Tara Beagan, a ‘proud Ntlaka’pamux and Irish “Canadian” halfbreed’ is a very busy local director/playwright/performer, originally born in Niitsitapi country. We sat down with Tara to discuss bringing her writing to the stage and why honour plays such a big role in this story.
Tara Beagan: Plays often arrive as a moment, an image, or a relationship between two people. In this case, it was observing two wonderful veteran artists, Monique Mojica and Margo Kane, tell stories of their careers as artists. This work took root when I spent time with those women in the summer of 2015. I wrote very few pages of it later that year, but was declined funding support to develop it, and so shifted focus to other projects. The full draft was written in early 2017, once the work was invited to FUSE at TC, by Shari Wattling & Jenna Turk. It’s been a wonderfully supportive journey ever since. What brought you to telling this story? Do you have a personal connection to this play? TB: The Indigenous theatre community suffered a rupture early in 2015 when two prominent theatres cast white women in roles written for Indigenous women, in a main stage play in Toronto. Many relationships were severed as a result, and much strife was experienced, especially among veteran female artists, who felt they had been erased. This play is an act of love dedicated to all of the Indigenous artists who have been forging the path for us all these years.
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Your plays give a strong voice to Indigenous women and, specifically in Honour Beat, roles for older Indigenous women. Can you speak more on your passion for creating these roles? Indigenous woman have kept our cultures and people alive in times of great oppression by the government. Their courage is immeasurable. We can’t do enough to honour them. This play is my small way of saying thanks and continuing to get to see some of our greatest actors on stage.
Mom in Honour Beat is around 80 years old, but you have chosen to have her be played by a younger woman, reflecting when she felt strongest and happiest. What is the significance of showing the audience this and how does it influence the other characters?
story and life, so it is also awesome to have to be patient. That is from an ego point of view. For my ancestors and all of those who will come after me, I am proud to be serving us, our voices and to have so many on board, making it happen.
I realized I often think of my mom as a 30something when I think of her. I see her as she was when I was very young. Speaking to many friends, they confirmed the same. So, she appears as the sisters think of her. Also, Mom is readying herself to leave her body, so all of her earthly pains and troubles are briefly shed - so she is in her healthy prime!
It is evident that you and director Michelle Thrush have a strong and trusting relationship. Have you worked together before? Why is trust so important in the playwright/director relationship, especially when telling this story?
What is it like to see a story you wrote brought to life onstage? It is thrilling and at times frustrating. The thrill is all of the great artists on the team. The frustration was once articulated to me by a colleague “The playwright moves from the impulse to the word. The actor moves from the word to the impulse.” For me, writing often comes quickly, and so I wish at times to see the actors understand everything immediately. Invariably, their own process reveals more to me about
Michelle is an artist I have admired for almost 30 years, but have only worked with once. She collaborated with the company I co-direct, ARTICLE 11, when we did a creation performance in the lobby of Calgary’s city hall for HPR. I love her spirit and good, strong heart. Considering Honour Beat references a drum rhythm, a director with a strong heart is a major bonus.
According to your website, tarabeagan.com, you have many plays currently in development. Is there one, you are particularly attached to right now? If so, why? I think it essential to fall in love with every play I am working on, so at the moment it is Honour Beat in the centre of my heart. What is next for you? ARTICLE 11, which I helm with Honour Beat’s set and projection designer Andy Moro, is taking our show Deer Woman to Australia for the Sydney Festival in January. We premiered in Aotearoa (New Zealand) in June of 2018, and so we are super excited we get to take it to Australia next. Hopefully some theatres in Alberta will also program the show, as it has been written for Blackfoot actor Cherish Blood.
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Explorations
The Severed Bond and the Awakened Spirit By Steve Gin
Steve Gin is a Calgary-based arts educator, actor and writer. Descended from Asian, Choctaw, Scottish and Scandinavian roots, he has worked across Canada in professional theatres, museums and art galleries. Indigenous theatre, queer interdisciplinary work and art education have been a significant part of his work and his Indigenous art education programs have also been featured at the Glenbow Museum, the Military Museums, the Vancouver Art Gallery and the former Art Gallery of Calgary. Here, he gives us a view into residential schools in Canada from 1883-1996. Though Tara Beagan’s play Honour Beat does not focus on residential schools, her characters have been deeply affected by them. While they have been affected by the breakdown of family and culture brought on by the schools, these women also draw from the strength and resiliency of Indigenous culture to overcome tremendous odds.
“When the school is on the reserve, the child lives with its parents, who are savages; he is surrounded by savages, and though he may learn to read and write, his habits and training and mode of thought are Indian. He is simply a savage who can read and write.” Sir John A. Macdonald Former Prime Minister of Canada May 19, 1883
The notion of these words coming from an elected official in Canada seems shocking but history has clearly recorded these words and their consequences. Though the last of the Canadian residential schools closed in 1996 near Punnichy, Saskatchewan, their effect continues to be felt, even by
descendants who have never attended a residential school. The intention of residential schools has been clear from their beginning: isolation and assimilation of Indigenous peoples, by severing bonds with family, language and land. Day schools, run by a combination of Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist churches, began appearing near Native communities in the 1840s. Drawing from the model of the Carlisle Indian School in the United States, the Canadian government commissioned the 1879 Davin Report, which called for cooperation with churches to implement a network of schools that would pursue an aggressively assimilationist approach. In a letter to Public Works Minister Hector-Louis Langevin, Bishop Vital-Justin Grandin recommended schools be structured so that students “lead a life different from their parents and cause them to forget the customs, habits and language of their ancestors.” In 1883, the first, of approximately 139 Canadian residential schools opened near
Battleford, Saskatchewan. A year later, an amendment to the Indian Act ordered the compulsory attendance, and removal from their families, of Native children aged 7 to 16 years old. The attack on Indigenous culture was brutal and unforgiving. Speaking one’s language was strictly forbidden, with beatings, humiliation and withholding of food being common punishments. Some students recall their tongues being pierced with pins and nails. Schools confiscated objects that held cultural meaning, such as clothing, traditional objects and family belongings. Students’ long hair and braids were cut off, and children were stripped of their birth names, receiving European ones instead. Amongst residential school survivors, one out of five have reported being sexually abused. Whether the consistent underfunding of residential schools was deliberate or a breakdown in government policy remains unclear, but the results were consistent: malnutrition, overcrowding, and rampant disease among children who often lacked immunity. Tuberculosis and trachoma were common in these schools. Across Canada, mortality rate varied, and at one point reached a shocking 50% in Alberta. Not every residential school survivor suffered this magnitude of abuse. A fortunate few, such as celebrated Dene / Suline / Saulteaux painter Alex Janvier, found support and encouragement for his talents from teachers, which played an important role in his professional career. His experience was not without struggle however, as Janvier lost siblings to tuberculosis in the Blue Quills residential school and suffered intense loneliness. For years he signed his paintings with the number “287” – a stark reminder of the number assigned to him at Blue Quills after being taken from his family. In fact, Indigenous artists have delivered some of the most haunting indictments of the school system, such as a number of recent
projects on Chanie Wenjack, detailing the story of a twelve year-old Anishinaabe boy who escaped his school in 1966, and died of exposure along the railway tracks while trying to return home. Evidence had been mounting for decades about the abuses, but Chanie Wenjack’s death sparked a public inquest, hastening the end of the agreement between churches and the federal government to occur three year later. In 1996, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples recommended a report looking into the long-term effects of the schools, with the long-awaited Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) being authorized in 2008 to document the stories of survivors and their descendants. The TRC delivered its report in June 2015 after extensive and sometimes controversial hearings held across Canada, with 94 specific calls to action surrounding Aboriginal child welfare, education, language, culture, health, and justice. History can be a shocking reminder of past abuses, but contemporary Indigenous arts in Canada – be they literary, performing or visual – signal an awakening of the spirit. Recommended Reading for Further Information: Historica Canada Education Guide 100 Years of Loss Education Guide The Lonely Death of Chanie Wenjack 11 Books to Teach Kids About Residential Schools CBC Interactive: Residential School Locator Official Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission The Langevin Bridge is Now Called the Reconciliation Bridge Sir John A. Macdonald Statue Removed from Victoria City Hall
Mystic Beach, Vancouver Island. Wikimedia Commons
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Conversations
Honour Beat Movie Night 1
Rhymes for Young Ghouls Red Crow Mi’g Maq reservation, 1976: By government decree, every Indian child under the age of 16 must attend residential school. In the kingdom of the Crow, that means imprisonment at St. Dymphna’s. 2013 | Feature Film | 18A | 88 min. | Director Jeff Barnaby
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Skins An inspirational tale about the relationship between two Sioux brothers living on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation. Features Graham Greene, Eric Schweig and Honour Beat’s Director, Michelle Thrush. 2002 | Feature Film | NR | 84 min. | Director Chris Eyre
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Boy Set on the east coast of New Zealand in 1984, Boy, an 11-year-old child gets a chance to know his absentee criminal father, who has returned to find a bag of money he buried years ago. 2010 | Feature Film | NR | 87 min. | Director Taika Waititi
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Before Tomorrow Also known as “Le Jour Avant le Lendemain”, this film is set is in a small Inuit community in the Nunavik region of northern Quebec in the 1840s. Ninioq, an Inuk elder isolated with her grandson after most of their community perishes from smallpox transmitted by strange traders. 2008 | Feature Film | PG | 93 min. | Marie-Hélène Cousineau (co-director), Madeline Ivalu (co-director)
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Conversations
Further Reading
The Inconvenient Indian By Thomas King Since its publication in 2012, The Inconvenient Indian has become an award-winning bestseller and a modern classic. In its pages, Thomas King tells the curiously circular tale of the relationship between non-Native and Indigenous people in the centuries since the two first encountered each other. 2017 Biography
The Myth of the Savage and the Beginnings of French Colonialism in the Americas
My Conversations with Canadians By Lee Maracle
Olive Patricia Dickason, of Metis ancestry, explores a classic study of early contact between European explorers and North American natives. When the two cultures met in the fifteenth century, it meant great upheavals for the Amerindians, but strengthened the Europeans’ move toward nation-states and capitalism.
Questions, which touch upon subjects such as citizenship, segregation, labour, law, prejudice and reconciliation (to name a few), are the heart of this book. Maracle seeks not to provide any answers to these questions, rather, she thinks through each one using a multitude of experiences she’s had as a First Nations leader, a woman, a mother, and grandmother over the course of her life.
1997 Non-fiction
2017 Fiction
By Olive Patricia Dickason
The Journey Forward By Richard Van Camp and Monique Gray Smith When We Play Our Drums, They Sing! by Richard Van Camp and Lucy & Lola by Monique Gray Smith are two novellas about reconciliation, healing and a way forward in one beautifully packaged flip book. 2018 Nonfiction
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Conversations
Conversation Starters Why do you think the play was called Honour Beat? What is the significance of that title? Do you relate more to one of the sisters? Why? Did your opinion of the sisters change by the end of the play? Why or why not? Why do you think the playwright, Tara Beagan, chose to have the Mom be played by someone younger than her actual age? Families take many shapes. The ‘nuclear family’ is not as common as it was two generations ago. What examples of non-nuclear familes can you think of? Do you have a nickname? How has it affected your identity?
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Conversations
Educational Exercises
Created by Steve Gin
Looking Deeper Indigenous artists have been at the forefront of cultural expression in this country, and residential schools have been subject material for playwrights, musicians, authors, filmmakers, visual artists and dancers. Two Alberta visual artists have generously allowed us to include photographs of their works in this play guide. Faye HeavyShield’s Cradle sculpture and Adrian Stimson’s Sick and Tired installation. Both address the loneliness and isolation of the schools through metaphor and use of materials. Look at each image separately. Use the questions below as inspiration for discussion.
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Faye HeavyShield, Cradle. Ca 1992 AD, cotton, acrylic, grass, Collection of Glenbow, Calgary, Canada.
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Adrian Stimson, Sick and Tired from Old Sun series, Ca 2013, various media, Collection of Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Canada.
• Which words reflect the mood of each artwork for you? Are the artworks’ titles fitting? • Do the artworks have anything in common? How do they differ? • What might the artworks say about the artist who created them? Who do the artworks depict? What are the background stories of these people? • What are the materials used to create the artworks? Is this important? How do light and other natural forces affect the artwork? • Do these conflicts still happen today? If so, where? Are the conflicts local or global? • What does the word “reconciliation” mean to you?
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Exploring Through Drama
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Kent Monkman, The Scream. Ca 2016 AD, acrylic on canvas.)
Cree artist Kent Monkman is one of the most successful artists in Canada today, mixing historical and contemporary references to make powerful statements about our country’s colonial past. To begin, look at Monkman’s painting The Scream with your class. Begin conversation using these questions and any others you wish to add: • What is happening in this painting? • What is your initial reaction to this painting? • Who are the characters? What time period is this set in? If that is hard to establish, is it a deliberate artistic choice? Why would he make that choice? • Is it a fair representation of what happened in Canadian history or exaggerated? • What seems out of place in this painting? Why would Monkman include these elements? • What is its focal point? • Monkman included animals in the painting. Do they, or other elements, hold symbolic/metaphorical value?
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Tableaux Creating narratives through frozen poses or ‘tableaux’ is a basic theatre exercise that is easily accomplished. Before gathering in a circle in a large open space, ask students to select a character that has captured their attention in the painting. It may be a character (or even an animal) that they sympathize with, or someone they see as an oppressor. Students can
change their characters once the exercise begins. But encourage students to make strong choices. Ask one student to volunteer to come to the middle of the circle and strike the pose of the character they wish to represent. The pose should be energetic, specific, and dynamic. A second student volunteers to enter the circle, and creates a second tableau. The rule, however, for each subsequent participant is that they must create it in response to another person already in the circle, so that there is always a clear relationship with another person. A third then joins, and a fourth, until all are in the circle.
The entire exercise needs to be conducted without participants speaking, except when directed by the teacher/leader. Once everyone has joined the mass tableau, ask students to remember their positions, and to be clear about who they are in a relationship with. The teacher/ leader may adjust heights and levels if necessary, to create more dynamic shapes and relationships. Have the students relax, shake their bodies loose, and then return to the mass tableau. Remind them to breathe and to adjust so they are in poses they can comfortably maintain. The finished group tableau should not be an imitation of Monkman’s painting; rather, it is inspired by it. Coach the students to think about what their character would be saying at this moment. What would they want to achieve from the person they have chosen to be in a relationship with? Ask them to repeat this to themselves silently first, and then to whisper it (for example “I want you to stop bothering me.”, “I want you to stop screaming.” ,“I want you to trust me.”). Then, ask the group to remain silent. Tapping each participant on the shoulder individually, ask them to share their statement aloud with the rest of the group. Now ask the group to think about what has happened moments
before this tableau. On the teacher /leader’s command, each participant will make one movement (only one full step can be taken) that represents the beginning of the story. Hold this tableau for a few seconds, and ask students to look around and assess what this – the beginning of the story - represents to them. Have students return to their original tableau, which represents the present, or the middle of the story. They may again shake loose and relax for a moment, before resuming their poses. Now ask the students to think about what would happen next - keeping in mind the thought they have voiced - if they could make one movement to achieve what their character wants. On the teacher/leader’s command, the participants will make one movement to achieve this future goal, and hold the new tableau. Again, ask students to look around at the ending of their story before relaxing. To close, form a circle and discuss the story that has unfolded for them, through their own character’s eyes. Compare different perceptions, especially between characters within a relationship. What does this say about our perceptions and how we read others? This exercise may also be the basis of a follow-up writing exercise or whole group improvisation of your choice, as it provides the signposts for the beginning, middle and end of a story.
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Sources Rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca. (2018). Indigenous peoples and communities. https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1100100013785/1529102490303 Canada, H. (2018). Medical assistance in dying - canada.ca. https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/medical-assistance-dying.html “Sun Dance.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Aug. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Dance. “Canadian Indian residential school system,” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation. 22 Aug. 2018. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Indian_residential_school_system Joseph, Bob. “A Definition of Smudging.” Indigenous Corporate Training Inc., www.ictinc.ca/blog/a-definition-of-smudging. Robinson, Amanda. “Smudging.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/smudging/. CBC. (2018). 7 new books by Indigenous authors you need to add to your reading list | CBC Books. [online] Available at: https://www.cbc.ca/books/7-new-books-by-indigenous-authors-you-need-to-add-to-your-reading-list-1.4701141 User, Super. “1879 - Davin Report.” Home, canadianhistory.ca/natives/timeline/1870s/1879-davin-report. “Movies, TV and Celebrities.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/. “Historica Canada Education Guide: Residential Schools in Canada” http://education.historicacanada.ca/files/32/ResidentialSchools_English.pdf Morgan-Feir, C., Hollenberg, S., Falk, G., Laurence, R., Gerges, M., Eagan, M., Verjee, Z. (n.d.). Kent Monkman: History Painting for a Colonized Canada. Retrieved from https://canadianart.ca/features/kent-monkman-critiques-canada-150/ A history of residential schools in Canada | CBC News. (2016, March 21). Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/a-history-of-residential-schools-in-canada-1.702280 Sandals, L., Hollenberg, S., Falk, G., Laurence, R., Gerges, M., Eagan, M., Verjee, Z. (n.d.). Art, Residential Schools & Reconciliation: Key Questions. Retrieved from https://canadianart.ca/features/art-and-reconciliation/ Schiedel, B. (2018, August 14). Why our kids need to learn about residential schools. Retrieved from https://www.macleans.ca/society/why-our-kids-need-to-learn-about-residential-schools/ Dickason, Patricia. “Home.” University of Alberta Press, The University of Alberta Press, www.uap.ualberta.ca/titles/636-9780888640369-myth-of-the-savage-and-the-beginnings-of-french colonialism-in-the-americas. KING, T. (2018). THE INCONVENIENT INDIAN: A Curious account of Native People in North America. Penguin/Random House Press. Francis, D. (2011). The Imaginary Indian. ; The Image of the Indian in Canadian Culture. Arsenal Pulp Press. Carter, B., & Kjorlien, M. (2008). Honouring tradition: Reframing native art. Calgary: Glenbow Museum. Canadas Residential Schools. the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2015). Montreal: Published for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission by McGill-Queens University Press BOYDEN, J. (2016). WENJACK. PENGUIN RANDOM House CANA. Martin, L., Houle, R., & Janvier, A. (1993). The Art of Alex Janvier: His first thirty years: 1960-1990. Thunder Bay: Thunder Bay Art Gallery.
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