Native Earth Performing Arts Announces 2023/24 Season
The 2023-2024 season is the first co-curated by Interim Artistic Director Joelle Peters and Managing Director Himanshu Sitlani.
By: A.A. Cristi Aug. 15, 2023
Native Earth Performing Arts has announced its 41st season with eight projects including an audio play, live theatre and dance, festivals and collaborations, and the second year of the Animikiig Creators Unit.
The 2023-2024 season is the first co-curated by Interim Artistic Director Joelle Peters and Managing Director Himanshu Sitlani, and will feature: They Know Not What They Do, an audio play by Tara Beagan; Canoe, an all-new two-act opera, produced by Unsettled Scores in collaboration with The Toronto Consort and Theatre Passe Muraille; the 36th edition of Weesageechak Begins to Dance; Omaagomaan by Waawaate Fobister, originally scheduled for Spring 2020; Women of the Fur Trade by Frances Koncan, a new presentation directed by Renae Morriseau, a co-production with National Arts Centre Indigenous Theatre & Great Canadian Theatre Company; Paprika Festival, the 8th year in partnership with Native Earth; and 2-Spirit Cabaret, in partnership with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.
Joint Statement from Joelle Peters & Himanshu Sitlani:
“Welcome to Native Earth Performing Arts' 23.24 season, the first one jointly curated by us. A new season of stories. Stories that honour our past and show us what the future can look like. This season, we aim to celebrate, to hold space for difficult truths, and to push our audience's perspectives on what Indigenous art can look like.
We are showcasing a powerhouse of creativity and talent, which is guaranteed to leave us all in awe. We are thrilled to be working with Indigenous artists not only locally based, but from across Turtle Island. We're excited to welcome artists both new to NEPA, along with artists that have been with us for years.
We've been thinking a lot about the 7 Sacred Teachings with this season. Courage. Tolerance. Strength. Patience. Humility. Wisdom. Generosity. Each story this season holds a bit of the Teachings, and that balance is how our company continues to move forward.
There truly is a bit of something for everyone this season. So, mark your calendars, and join us in cheering on this extraordinary celebration of Indigenous talent.”
NATIVE EARTH PERFORMING ARTS 2023/24 SEASON:
Canoe
Previews: September 12-13, 7:30pm | September 15-16, 2023 7:30pm | September 16, 2pm | No performance September 14
General Admission. Pay what you like: $65 / $45 / $20, Previews: $10
Trinity-St. Paul's Centre, 427 Bloor Street East in Toronto
An Unsettled Scores production in collaboration with Native Earth Performing Arts, The Toronto Consort and Theatre Passe Muraille
Cast and Creatives:
Libretto/Story by Spy Dénommé-Welch
Music by Spy Dénommé-Welch & Catherine Magowan
Performers: Conlin Delbaere-Sawchuk, Kristine Dandavino, Michelle Lafferty, Nicole Joy-Fraser
Director: Moynan King
Canoe is a tale of transformation that revolves around the lives of twin sisters, Constance and Gladys, and the flood that consumes their world. Canoe blends Indigenous storytelling and music to create a unique operatic experience.
They Know Not What They Do
September 30, 2023 | 30 Minute Audio Play
Free – available on multiple streaming platforms
Cast and Creatives:
Playwright: Tara Beagan
Director: Desirée Leverenz
Stage Manager: Wei Qing Tan
Sound Designer: Colanthony Humphrey
Performers: Cheri Maracle, Damion LeClair, Cherish Violet Blood
Available on September 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, They Know Not What They Do, by Siminovitch Award winner and former NEPA Artistic Director, Tara Beagan, follows three separate yet parallel journeys through Residential School. Stories of survival weave through time, and as we hear from Elders in the present day and moments in their own voices as small children, we are reminded that these atrocities were perpetrated on vulnerable young people. Within these stories of survival live the strength and wisdom of our ancestors, past, present, and future.
Weesageechak Begins to Dance 36:
November 6 - 19, 2023
In person performances: $15 | Online performances: Free
Aki Studio, 585 Dundas Street East
Festival Team:
Producer: Lucy Coren
Assistant Producer: Yago Mesquita
Stage Manager: Caitlin Farley
The 36th edition of Weesageechak Begins to Dance will bring together 22 Creators from across Turtle Island to develop and showcase their work. Join us for excerpts from these new works in development, and conversations about artistic process, both in-person at our Aki Studio and online. In addition, we will have fantastic ancillary programming during the festival of various performers. We invite you to join us in this amazing celebration of Indigenous theatre, dance, and multi-disciplinary works!
Omaagomaan
February 15 – 18, 2024
Tickets: $10, $20, $30
Aki Studio, 585 Dundas Street East
Cast and Creatives:
Choreographer, Performer: Waawaate Fobister
Tech. Dir., SM, Lighting Design: Pierre Lavoie
The Anishinaabe of Grassy Narrows are resilient. They are stitching their fractured landscapes back together from the impact of mercury poisoning. Using dance, movement, sound, and storytelling, the Dora-award winning Waawaate Fobister embodies Omaagomaan, a two-spirit being, and a manifestation of the earth and man-made poisons that have seeped into the earth's crust. A fierce shape-shifter inspired by Anishinaabeg worldview and cosmologies, Omaagomaan forces us to reckon with the ways the maanaadizi (ugly) and the onishishin (beautiful) collide.
Women of the Fur Trade
April 9 – 21, 2024 | Previews: April 9-10
Tickets: $10, $20, $30
Aki Studio, 585 Dundas Street East
A co-production with National Arts Centre Indigenous Theatre & Great Canadian Theatre Company
Cast and Creatives:
Playwright: Frances Končan
Director: Renae Morriseau
Eighteen hundred and something something. A room in a fort on the banks of a Reddish River. This important history is brought to you by Marie-Angelique (a Métis Taurus), Cecilia (a British Virgo), Eugenia (an Ojibwe Sagittarius), Thomas Scott (an Irish Capricorn), and Louis Riel (a Métis Libra). This new production, directed by Renae Morriseau, will premiere at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, in January 2024, before coming to Aki Studio.
Paprika Festival 2024
May 13-19, 2024
Aki Studio, 585 Dundas Street East
Produced by Paprika Festival in partnership with Native Earth
Currently in the 8th year of partnership, Paprika Festival is working with Native Earth to present the 23rd annual youth-led performing arts festival. Following a year of professional theatre training and mentorship programs, Paprika Festival showcases creations from the next generation for one full week in Aki Studio.
Paprika programs are paid learning opportunities and offer exceptional training in playwriting, performing, directing, producing, collective creation, and design. Through the support of Native Earth and other industry partners, Paprika Festival launched the Indigenous Arts Program in 2017 to support and present the work of young Indigenous artists. For more information, visit www.paprikafestival.com
2-Spirit Cabaret
June 2024
Tickets: $10, $20, $40
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander Street
Presented in partnership with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
A celebration of the strength, beauty, and talent of queer and 2-Spirit Indigenous people, the Cabaret features music, dance, drag, performance art, spoken word, poetry and comedy.
#2SCab
Native Earth Performing Arts is also entering into the second year of the Animikiig Creators Unit, a two-year development program for emerging Indigenous creators, which offers participants the opportunity to develop their craft through individualized development plans and resources. The Animikiig Creators Unit 2023-2024 takes place under the guidance of professional mentors in consultation with the Program Director Irma Villafuerte. Continuing with this cohort are theatre artists Caleigh Crow (Métis) mentored by Tara Beagan (Ntlaka'pamux, Irish), Danica Charlie (Nuu-chah-nulth) mentored by Frances Koncan (Anishinaabe, Slovene), Dylan Thomas-Bouchier (Cree-Dene) mentored by Deneh'Cho Thompson (Pehdzeh Ki Nation), Jennifer Murrin (Mi'kmaw) mentored by Donna-Michelle St. Bernard, and Montana Adams (Mohawk-awkwesasne) mentored by Monique Mojica (Guna and Rappahannock).
Native Earth Performing Arts is Canada's oldest professional Indigenous theatre company. Currently in its 41st year, Native Earth is dedicated to creating, developing and producing professional artistic expressions of the Indigenous experience in Canada. Through stage productions (theatre, dance and multidisciplinary art), script development, apprenticeships and internships, Native Earth seeks to fulfill a community of artistic visions. nativeearth.ca
Tickets for Canoe are available now at: www.torontoconsort.org/canoe
Tickets for the Native Earth Performing Arts 2023-2024 Season will be available in September at www.nativeearth.ca.
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