Play brings communities together

Page 9

A Fort Qu'Appelle play brought hundreds of people together from different communities to produce a show combing varied views of history and cultural perceptions.

Pa'ko'pi'ci'wak, or The Gathering, relates the history of the Calling Lakes area, including the town of Fort Qu'Appelle and the 16 area reserves.

Darrel Wildcat, who co-wrote and directed the play, said the most challenging part of researching and writing The Gathering was trying to find a balanced picture of history.

"The textbooks and essays had a real bias toward the Western view of history so we expanded (the research) to include interviews with Native elders."

Prior to the arrival of Westerners, the First Nations people lived in harmony with their environment for thousands of years and developed their own cultures and lifestyles. Everything changed with the arrival of Columbus.

Early traders, the Hudson's Bay Company, settlers, the treaty commissioners and the Canadian government forced changes in the valley and eventually the Indian people were moved onto reserves where their lives were controlled by Indian agents.

Throughout this history, the people of the town of Fort Qu'Appelle understood very little about the Indian people who lived next door, and because the Indian people were treated as prisoners on their reserves, they knew little about the settlers.

The play, attended by more than 3,200 people during its July run, was performed outdoors in a natural amphitheatre in the Qu'Appelle valley. It started with Legend Woman, played by Karen Pasqua, telling the story of her death and the heartbroken lover who stills calls to her.

Legend Woman has the power to travel through time. She takes the audience to the end of the last glacial period and introduces them to the Cree trickster Wesahkeychuk, played by Terry Carrier, who rides a glacier into the play area. With the retreat of the glacier the earth is flooded and the stage is set for the Cree creation story.

Community plays are a unique approach to theatre. The researchers and writers draw on the stories and talents of ordinary people to find and tell the story of the community.

Volunteers designed and built costumes, stages and props, including a 10-foot-tall puppet of Queen Victoria and a miniature town. The actors and actresses were also volunteers from the communities -- 77 people played 340 different roles.

"I think there has been an effect on the community," said Wildcat. "I don't know how deep or how long it will last, but I think people have been made aware of a lot of things. If they'll act on it or if they'll change, that's something we have to watch for," he said.

Another important aspect of the play is that it allows ordinary people to tell their own stories.

"A lot of people have been identifying who we are through radio, music, movies, books and essays," he said. "I think what's really important about the play is that Native people are given a vehicle to express who they are and what their history is, and what their culture is. It doesn't come from a second or third point of view, but from the first (person) point of view."

In the play's development, local bands also had input. Fred Starblanket, of the Starblanket band, was appointed by the Touchwood File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribal Council to represent the 16 area bands on the play's steering committee.

"For once Indian and non-Indian people are working together to produce something. It's exciting to work with the people of both communities. There's an air of togetherness," Starblanket said.