Play uses Natives to portray whites

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The Citadel Theatre's epic season opener, The Royal Hunt of the Sun, is taking a novel approach in the depiction of the discovery of the New World, especially in terms of casting.

In playwright Peter Shaffer's story of Spain's destruction of the Incan civilization, Native actors Lorne Cardinal and Jerry P. Longboat perform both Native and non-Native roles.

"I've been exposed to non-Native society a lot, so it's easy to do, as opposed to someone who's non-Native trying to portray a Native role and not really understanding the culture and the religion, the beliefs, the different values," said Cardinal.

Cardinal, 28, plays Domingo, a Spanish barrel-maker and Manco, an Incan messenger of the gods. Despite his Cree heritage, Cardinal finds it hard to play a Native

in this production.

"I guess what we're going for, because the casting is so different, is how to be Indians...knowing how to stand there with pride and dignity and knowing how to speak

as a Native person instead of a Hollywood stereotype Indian."

The problems with the Native characters in Royal Hunt lie in the actual dialogue, he said.

"Here, you all speak in very short sentences. It seems like you can never string two complicated thoughts together. When plays are written by Native persons, they have sentences. I've run across that with many non-Native writers. It's always short sentences, even George Ryga's The Ecstasy of Rita Joe was very much like that.:"

Longboat, 26, is from the Cayga Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy in Ontario.

"Movement from Native to playing a white character, a non-Native character, is much easier because we are living in a western society now," he said. "But it's much harder, personally, getting back to my culture from the Christian church. I've got to work to find it again."

Switching between Incan and Spanish roles is tough, even without a spiritual aspect, Cardinal said, because there is often little time to make the mental transition from one to the other.

Despite the difficulties, Cardinal is enjoying his work.

"I turned down some other work just to work with (director Robin) Phillips. It's one big learning experience working with some of these other actors."

A student in the Fine Arts Acting Program at the University of Alberta, Cardinal plans to return to his third and final year at the end of September.

Longboat, a University of Michigan drama student who studies with playwright Floyd Favel at the Native Theatre School, is also thrilled to be working on the production.

"There are a lot of things you wouldn't experience in a smaller show."

The play, which revolves around the conflict between the Indian God-King Atahuallpa and conquistador Francisco Pizarro, is an honest rendition of Europe's colonial past, Longboat said.

"The movie about Christopher Columbus just came out and you see the ads saying "Wow, discovery!" Audiences need the chance to look beyond and see what actually happened. It gives people something to think about. What Shaffer's trying to do is portray Native people before colonization, before the real influence of white people and western culture."

The Royal Hunt of the Sun runs on the Shoctor stage at the Citadel Theatre until Sept. 30.