what’s cooking

projects in development. stay tuned for updates.

who will save the night sky?

in development with support from Ontario Arts Council Recommender Grants for Theatre Creators from Roseneath Theatre and Young People’s Theatre

Residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts Indigenous Dramaturgies Exchange 2023

Workshop performance at Native Earth Performing Arts, Weesageechak Begins to Dance Festival 2023

Workshop direction by deisrée leverenz

Dramaturgy by Jill Carter

Mentorship by Sky Dénommé-Welch

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Did YOU know there are nearly 4000 satellites already in the sky, with hopes of 42,000 in the near future? DID you know in 1958 we nearly nuked the moon? Did you KNOW that when satellites stop working, they are left to float in the outer atmosphere of earth…alone…hapless, hopeless, helpless :( 

ENOUGH FACTS!

allow me to take you on a celestial journey, snacks provided, to a big board room in the sky. plleeeaaassee, allow me to whisk my tail and weave you a tale and tattle tale on the tell tale signs of a GOOD STORY! a long time ago, in the future an important group of star beings got together to discuss the fate of earth and the two leggeds…and the party begins. ;)

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This project will blend a traditional understanding of original constellation stories - which I am in the process of investigating - with invented contemporary constellation stories based on the evolving makeup of our night sky. I hope to offer an archive for witnesses of the work, as we urgently need to turn our attention to the sky. Before the night sky as we know it completely shifts, we need to remember, retain, and reclaim. The piece, also, represents a path to the future where we live with these changes and as Indigenous Peoples incorporate them into our re-creation stories. 

fence posts divided

A new piece of performance-installation that looks at two displaced communities coming together in rural Manitoba – the Métis and the Jews. Inspired by a journey to reclaim Indigenous identity through an understanding of self, community, and sovereignty. The piece examines our fluid personal search for identity and place in a world adamant about binaries

The seed for the theatre piece comes from research that my mother and I have been doing about my grandfather ni mooshum, John Logan. In our research we uncovered that in the 1920’s he lived in Narcisse, Manitoba that happened to be a few kilometers away from Bender Hamlet, which was one of the first Shtetls (a small Jewish town) outside of Eastern Europe. I am Jewish on my Father’s side so this incredible merging of history and present became extremely worth exploring and telling.

Bender Hamlet, a new Jewish community displaced by racism and colonial law in Russia encounters a Métis community, reeling from displacement through scrip and a settler-colonial government, during the early twentieth century. The piece looks at this intersection of identities and communities.

We are looking at the surprising similarities of Métis and Yiddish identity and culture including: language; the power of the matriarch; survival of genocide; Louis Riel’s fascination in the Hebrews; similarities in oral histories; trickster figures; and circular storytelling. While investigating (re)conciliation through the setter-colonial (Jewish) Indigenous (Métis) relationship.

This is a piece of theatre that weaves past, into present, and looks towards the future. Inspired by a journey to reclaim Indigenous identity through an understanding of self, community, and sovereignty. The piece examines one’s fluid personal search for identity and place in a world adamant about binaries.

in development with support from

Winnipeg Jewish Theatre

Ontario Arts Council Recommender Grants from Native Earth Performing Arts, Jumblies Theatre, and Volcano Theatre

Ontario Arts Council Indigneous Arts Projects grant

images from research trip to Narcisse, Bender Hamlet, Stonewall and Rooster Town in Treaty 1