Play banned by Poundmaker chief and council

A chief and council’s decision to ban the performance of an Aboriginal adaptation of a Greek play didn’t stop the playwright from showcasing the performance in her own community.

“It’s almost like communist tactics to silence people and they have tried to silence me. But it wasn’t going to stop me,” says Deanne Kasokeo, Poundmaker band member and playwright of Antigone.

Chief and Council held a closed-meeting March 29th where they voted to ban the play.

Kasokeo and her crew, including director Floyd Favel who is also from Poundmaker, were immediately locked out of the community hall.

But Kasokeo said a councillor who voted against the ban let them into the school so the show could still go on.
“I’ve learned that no matter what, I have the right to my freedom of speech and expression and I should be allowed to do that without being restricted,” she said.

Kasokeo said she was surprised to hear Chief and Council’s decision, but believed it’s because Chief and Council felt threatened by the content.

“We didn’t make it controversial,” she said. “We felt this was a good way to expose our community to our art.”
The play is based on the Greek tragedy Sophocles written 2,500 years ago.

“The play is really about natural law versus man made law. In the end you find out that natural law is supreme,” she said.

Antigone takes place on a reserve with a corrupt Chief. The main character wants to bury her brother’s body on the reserve, but the chief, who had previously banished the brother from the community, refuses.

“You get a real sense of how this chief is throughout the play,” said Kasokeo.

Kasokeo believes the current Chief of Poundmaker, Dwayne Antoine thought the play was about him.

However, Kasokeo said she wrote the play in 1998, long before Antoine was Chief.

When Kasokeo heard there were concerns from Chief and Council about the play, she sent a letter and the script to the band office.

“It didn’t change his mind,” she said. “He still thinks it’s about him.”

Chief Dwayne Antoine refused to do an interview with Sage saying: “We don’t need to answer to nobody.”

Kasokeo was happy to still perform in her community but was disappointed that few band members attended the play.

“We had more outside people than we did our own membership. There’s a lot of fear here. There’s consequences to be paid if you support something like this,” she said.

“There are a lot of people who support me but they support me silently.”

Kasokeo added the play has an important message regarding First Nations governance.

“People identify with the play. There’s a lot of universal issues and contemporary issues with our own governance systems and we need to stop and take a good look and see what we have become because of the imposition of the Indian Act on our governance structure,” she said.

“Our values as First Nations people have gone by the way side. We need to bring them back and we need to use them in our lives and in our governance.”

Antigone was first performed at Regina’s Globe Theatre in 1998. The play was recently performed on the Sakimay First Nation, Fort Qu’Appelle, and North Battleford.

Kasokeo said people always respond positively to the play’s message.

“Issues of governance and mismanagement are in the spotlight. That’s why the play is so relevant. It’s good for the communities and the people who have seen it say they loved it. They identified with a lot of the issue.”

Kasokeo said the controversy has piqued interest in the play.

“People want to see it now because the chief banned it,” she said. “I’ve never heard of government banning a play from it’s jurisdiction. It’s surprising, it’s shocking, and it’s funny. But it’s all for a good reason.”