Indian activist Aquash subject of Toronto play

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It was 25 years ago this March that Indian rights activist Anna Mae Pictou Aquash was found murdered on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. On March 22, Yvette Nolan's play Annie Mae's Movement made a timely debut with Native Earth Performing Arts.

The play is about the last few years of Aquash's life, depicting what it might have been like to be her, a Mi'kmaq woman born in Shubenacadie, N. S. in March 1945.

Aquash held a deep belief she could help bring about change for Indian people and joined the American Indian Movement in the 1970s, a very active and dangerous time for the Indian rights organization. Her conviction and dedication led her to become one of the AIM's inner circle.

"I did not write this play to explain what happened to Anna Mae," said Nolan. "Rather, I wanted to explore what it must have been like to be Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, a woman in a man's world, a Canadian in America, an Aboriginal in a white world. I wanted to give voice to one who they tried to silence in life and death."

This one-act play runs until April 15 at the Native Canadian (friendship) Centre of Toronto. This is Native Earth Performing Arts' mainstage production for this year, its nineteenth season.

Annie Mae's Movement is performed in theatre-in-the-round style with the audience on risers looking down on the actors from three sides. The play is unique in that there are no set changes and the action moves from scene to scene very quickly with a small cast of two. Both actors interact briefly with the audience by sitting or standing in the risers and speaking to the audience as though they were fellow cast members.

Toronto-based actor Rose Stella plays Anna Mae. Stella is originally from Arizona and a member of the Tarahumara Nation. She has made Toronto her home for many years.

"I was cast in Annie Mae's Movement when it was first presented as a staged reading by Native Earth in 1998, so I'm really pleased to have been cast in this Toronto premiere of the play," Stella said.

Jason Yuzicapi is making his Toronto theatre debut playing all six of the male characters. Yuzicapi is a member of Okanese First Nation of southern Saskatchewan and is Dakota/Ojibway.

For ticket information contact the Native Earth box office at (416) 531-4525 or e-mail them at naterth@idirect.com