Actor gives back to her people

Page 10

She has carved out a colorful and demanding life in the bright lights of Toronto's theatre community - been given a wonderful opportunity to teach young Aboriginal people to sing, dance, act and find their own cultural voice.

Fulfilling a lifelong ambition, she has also been given a "big chance to give back."

"Who could ask for anything more?" asked Cree actress Carol Greyeyes, the principal and artistic director of the Indigenous Theatre School in Toronto. "I really feel that I have been completely blessed the last few years."

"To be able to teach, write, direct and act on stage with young Native actors in the big city theatre scene is a dream come true."

But like all dreams, artistic success hasn't come without a sacrifice.

"Toronto really does have it all, as the major art, theatre, film and television centre of English- speaking Canada," said Greyeyes. "But my heart will always be in Saskatchewan."

Greyeyes was one of the first Native people to finish a Fine Arts degree in Saskatchewan.

After dropping out of high school in Saskatoon, she decided she wanted to pursue a university education, finished her high school and enrolled in education and geography to help with land claims.

Trained as a ballet dancer, along with her younger cousin Michael Greyeyes, Carol had always harbored a secret dream to be an actress. Not sure about what direction to take in her education, she "danced around" various possibilities until a friend and dancing partner, Allan Lake, gave her this advice: "Carol, when are you going to stop running? You belong on the stage."

Following Lake's advice, she decided to switch to the acting program at the University of Saskatchewan, did workshops in Alberta and Saskatchewan in Native communication, taught in the NADAP and ADAP programs and got involved in a lot of community theatre.

Along with Tantoo Cardinal, Maria Campbell and Ruth Smilely, she helped establish the Native Drama Program at the Native Survival School in Saskatoon in 1981.

She also decided to get an education degree after Dr. Cecile King started the Indian Teachers Education Program, first at the University of Saskatchewan and then in Regina. Greyeyes taught high school in Saskatoon for a few years and then left to take a master's degree in Toronto, following the advice of her band's chief, Harry Lafond at Muskeg Lake First Nation. He encouraged Carol to follow in his footsteps and pursue higher education to better serve her own people.

Greyeyes decided to move to Toronto.

"I had two agendas in coming to Toronto. One was to get an MA, the other to work my way into the big city theatre scene. I had always wanted to be an actor in television and film, after a stint in radio work in Edmonton, but opportunities were limited in the West. I finished the MA, got an agent right away and spent five years working in the industry doing film, theatre and television, including Heart of a Distant Tribe by Ian Ross, The Dreaming Beauty by Daniel David Moses, Sixty Below by Leonard Linklater, The Baby Blues and Only Drunks and Children Tell The Truth by Drew Hayden Taylor. My big break came when I got a series lead in a show called Blue Hawk, a German/Canadian production, shooting 13 episodes over two years."

Every time Greyeyes talked to people back home, they asked, "What are you doing out there? When can we see it and when are you coming home?"

"Blue Hawk became my opportunity to show them that I'm actually doing something out here in Toronto. I'm not just making it up, that I am actually pursuing a television career and landed a lead. It's every actor's dream in this feast or famine industry. It represents stability because you are not just going from gig to gig. It's security. It was, my German friends told me, a big hit in Germany, and the producers came back and said that they wanted to shoot 50 more episodes. But then we found out that there was some serious legal action being taken against the producers in Germany and that the series ould not be finished and would never be broadcast in Canada.

"Everyone was in Blue Hawk, many famous Native and non-Native actors. [It was] shot around 1700, first contact, the wars between the British and the French, a real Canadian historical epic made from the perspective of First Nations people. That was my 'big thing' that never happened," said Greyeyes.

"I have worked with Tantoo Cardinal, Gary Farmer, Gordon Tootoosis, Lorne Cardinal, Darrel Dennis, Jennifer and Tamara Podemski. I have been able to work on some great television and film projects, but because of 'my look' or 'my hit' [Hollywood-speak for stereotyping physical appearance] I have been hard to cast. Of course, now that I'm over 40, it's all moot anyway! But film and television likes its stereotypes and I don't fit the Pocahontas image, so I have always had more success on the stage. That's fine by me because that's the medium I enjoy the most, enjoy teaching. I love the contact with the audience; that spirit to spirit exchange is exhilarating."

Greyeyes had kept very busy during that time, writing for CBC and TV Ontario, along with some directing stints. She was asked by Warren Arcane, artistic director of the Native Theatre School, to come up and speak at the summer school. He just happened to be from Carol's home reserve and was looking for a replacement for his position when he stepped down.

"Warren offered me the position and I saw it as a wonderful opportunity to bring together all of the things I'd been doing - theatre, directing, teaching. I also wanted to serve my community, which was kinda my life goal," said Greyeyes.

As artistic director and now principal of the new full-time Indigenous Theatre School, and an artistic associate of Shakespeare In The Red, Greyeyes has found her niche and a way to follow the teachings of her grandfather.

"I have to say that the greatest influence and source of inspiration has been my grandfather, Joseph Greyeyes. He only had his Grade 3 but he worked had all of his life, raised all his children and gained the love and respect of all that knew him. He taught me about the valuable things in life: love, honor, hard work and to give whatever you have. Even if it's only yourself, you have to give. He always encouraged me to work hard and respect the family name. 'It's a good name,' he'd say, 'the name you were born with. Respect it. Do your best. Don't put that name in the garbage.'

"That is why I use my mother's maiden name . . . because of my grandfather's instructions. I have always tried to live up to his teachings as a 'thank you' for all he gave me - his love, his sacrifices, his courage and the dignity with which he lived his life. I miss him daily.

"I feel very grateful for the enormous sacrifice that our parents' generation have made, and the ones before them and the ones before them. The enormous struggle of the rez experience, the alcohol, the poverty, starvation and having everything systematically stripped away from them. And we survived.

"Anything that I can do to repay that and show that I appreciate all the things I have now, I will do. All the things that they went through and suffered enables me to put on a play about Native culture, using Native directors and Native playwrights, many of whom have gone to university and have the freedom to be performers, to have a voice.

"Anything that I can do to encourage that voice and carry on our traditions, any chance I have, I take." Greyeyes said.