The Tunguska Project is a blast!

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The gigantic Tunguska blast of 1908 should have made headlines around the globe, but there were no intrepid reporters combing the wilds of Siberia to record what has been called the biggest celestial event in recent history. Only a few nomadic tribesmen tending their herds of reindeer were witnesses to a mystery that remains unsolved to this day.

Saskatchewan Native playwright Floyd Favel wants to set the record straight with a new stage production called The Tunguska Project.

The play is based on 33 years of conflicting scientific evidence and the oral testimony of Native tribesmen.

The Tunguska event has been called an ?ecological catastrophe of the greatest magnitude.? It was the only time in recorded history that our planet may have collided with a huge celestial object.

There were no Russian eye witnesses to the event. No one, except observers in central Siberia, were aware that an explosion (2,000 times the force of the Hiroshima bomb) had taken place.

Russian scientists did not discover the event until the 1930s when they found 1,000 square km of flattened mass destruction. Tremors had been recorded in 1908 on a seismograph 4,000 km west of St. Petersburg. To the scientists, it looked like a large earthquake or meteorite explosion, but there was no meteorite. They also hypothesized that it might have been a comet exploding in the atmosphere seven or eight miles above the earth.

?The oral evidence from Native people in the immediate area consists of one paragraph, which is dismissed by the scientists as folklore and superstition. But what we know of Native people, within that folklore and superstition would be an entirely different story. It would be much better than the scientists? story because the scientists don?t even have a story. They just have several different theories because they have no conclusive evidence,? said Favel.

Nomadic Tungus reindeer herders 30 km away had reported seeing a giant fireball and the mass destruction of forests. Thousands of reindeer were instantly vaporized. The shaman ? chief of the Tungus people ? closed off the region, regarding it as ?enchanted.? Tungus tribal superstition put the blame on ?the rage of the gods.?

In The Tunguska Project, it is the people and their journey who take centre stage over the forces of nature, explained the playwright.

?The devastating explosion is more the dramatic theme, the principle action. Because of it, everything else takes place, the scientific investigation and cultural investigation, a journey to the epicentre of the event. That means traveling there geographically, but also more thematically, finding out the heart and spirit of the event and how it affected the people of that time. According to my research it was almost apocalyptic to the Native people of that time,? said Favel.

The site is reached today by helicopter or on foot through swamps, bogs and hilly taiga (a northern region of vast coniferous forests composed of spruce, larch and fir.)

Favel will travel to Siberia this winter to work closely with Native Siberian actors and receive support from the Russian Indigenous People?s Association to facilitate exploration and search out key collaborators.

A Russian translator will help smooth the way between cultures.

?There are many similarities between the Aboriginal cultures of Siberia and Canada. Both are originally nomadic and share a common northern environment. The bottom line is this: they are the Native people of that area. We are the Native people of this area. That?s our shared heritage, our shared destiny as tribal people. They share the same cultural experience, traditionally and historically, through colonization. As artists they have the same concerns and visions that we do,? said Favel.

The trip will present its own challenges, though.

?Modern Russia is undergoing many changes. I?ve never been in a country where, one might say, the rules are very fluid. In that way it will be icredibly challenging. Most people think going to Siberia in the winter or spring would be difficult, but it can?t be worse than a Canadian winter. We will be doing most of our creative work in a city called Yakutsk with explorations out into the countryside. We will also go to Moscow, a very western city, manageable with proper planning and a good translator,? said Favel.

As an Aboriginal director, producer, playwright and actor, Favel has plans to integrate Cree and English into The Tunguska Project.

?It is very important that our Cree language is transmitted through the media, arts and in books. The health of our language is reflected in the scope of its use. It is directly proportional. If we don?t hear it, that means it?s not very healthy because that?s where we get our primary information, through those mediums and entertainment. I can?t presume as an artist that our own people will appreciate the show. I can only hope.?