Native Earth theatre folks hold birthday bash

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On May 30, Native Earth Performing Arts-Canada's oldest professional Aboriginal theatre company-celebrated its twentieth birthday with "Best of," a fundraising evening featuring scenes from Native Earth's best-known plays, as well as a book launch. The celebration took place at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto. A silent auction of donated packages and First Nations' artwork was also held.

"We're thrilled and honored to be able to bring together so many of the artists who originally created these roles," said Yvette Nolan, the award-winning theatre company's artistic director.

The evening began with a reception and music by Tamara Podemski (Rent, Ready or Not). Next, Monique Mojica (author of Princess Pocahontas and the Blue Spots and member of the Turtle Gals Performance Ensemble) launched Staging Coyote's Dream, a collection of plays by Native playwrights, published by Playwrights Canada Press.

The volume was edited by Mojica and Ric Knowles (Guelph University professor and editor of Canadian Theatre Review and Modern Drama) and includes plays by Gloria and Muriel Miguel, Daniel David Moses and Drew Hayden Taylor. Mojica presented many of the contributors who were there that night with a copy of the book.

For the rest of the evening, Gary Farmer (of Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, Buffalo Tracks, Powwow Highway and Smoke Signals fame) hosted the event, introducing scenes from Tomson Highway's The Rez Sisters and Rose, Tina Mason's Diva Ojibway, Daniel David Moses' Almighty Voice and His Wife and Red River, John MacLeod's Diary of a Crazy Boy, Billy Merasty's Fireweed, an Indigeni Fairy Tale, Drew Hayden Taylor's Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth, Yvette Nolan's Annie Mae's Movement and the Turtle Gals' the Scrubbing Project.

Performers included Monique Mojica, Herbie Barnes, Jennifer Podemski, Billy Merasty, Lorne Cardinal, Rose Stella, Jani Lauzon, Carol Greyeyes, Michelle St. John and the impressive Muriel Miguel and Gloria Miguel. The Miguel sisters, together with their third sister Lisa Mayo, founded New York's Spiderwoman Theatre--not only the oldest Aboriginal theatre but also the longest continually running women's theatre company in North America. As actors and directors, they have played a key role in many Native Earth productions, from The Rez Sisters to The Scrubbing Project.

Some of the very short play scenes in "Best of" were probably more meaningful for those in the audience who had been directly involved in their creation. The event had the feel of a birthday party for family and friends, and the occasional theatre supporter, rather than of a public performance. But this is the case with so many theatrical get-togethers in Toronto.

Billy Merasty brought touching hilarity to the event with his comically sizzling drag performance from his play Fireweed. The Miguel sisters were powerful, as was to be expected. There were many other good performances; the venue unfortunately didn't do the event justice. York Quay Centre's Lakeside Terrace is a noisy and distracting environment, with its open patio doors and in-and-out traffic, and non-stop clinking from the bar at the back of the room. A birthday bash of this significance deserves better than a dressed up cafe space.

As the nurturer of First Nations' theatrical talent, Native Earth has much to be proud of. Over the years, it has produced some of Canada's best-known stage plays and featured a veritable Who's Who of Native performers. In the early 1980s, Native Earth was developing collective works on a project basis, which were performed at the Theatre Centre and the Native Canadian Centre in Toronto, and toured First Nations' territories.

The opening of The Rez Sisters in 1986 marked a turning point for the company. Tomson Highway's play went on to become the first North American, Aboriginal-written-and-performed production at Scotland's Edinburgh International Theatre Festival, one of the most prestigious contemporary theatre fetivals in the world.

The play "changed the way the world looked at Native theatre," said Gary Farmer. Appropriately, scenes from it opened and closed the evening.

In 1989, Native Earth launched its annual "Weesageechak Begins to Dance" festival, which develops new plays and dance performances to offer emerging Native talent the opportunity to be produced and published. Weesageechak continues to dance, thanks to the dedication of Native Earth artists and their supporters.

There was much to see and experience at "Best of," an evening of celebration. "I feel like a kid in a candy shop," said Nolan.