Last updated: July 15, 2022
Kisaageetin, We Love You
In the mid 90’s I attended The University College of the Cariboo in Kamloops BC, now called Thompson Rivers University. During my time there I encountered Tomson Highway’s work for the first time in a Canadian literature class, indeed this was the first time I had ever encountered Indigenous Theatre, and my life has never been the same since.
I was tasked with memorizing a monologue from Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing and to present it to my class. I had never done anything like that before so I was more than a little nervous standing up in front of my classmates and delivering a monologue. But, I did. In hindsight I went through all of the emotions and anxiety of doing a real play only in miniature. There were rehearsals and then opening night nerves, and then places. I stood in front of those terrifying English majors and MBA’s just getting their credits in and for two whole minutes I connected to Big Joey and that beautiful monologue rolled out of my mouth. Even though I was a rough tool, untrained and inexperienced, something instinctual and magical happened. All the fear solidified into action, all the memorization melted into knowing and clarity then a miracle… applause! And that was it. I was hooked. I was officially bitten by the theatre bug, and its name was Tomson.
In that first encounter with Tomson’s work I recognized my own story in his words. The experiences he was writing about I knew. I knew these characters. It was familiar even though it was so very Cree and I so Salish. It was like he was writing about my home too. With his lyrically flowing text, head butting humour and biting truth. Tomson seduced me down this path I now walk, into the dark, dangerous, delicious world of the Theatre. And for that gift I am forever grateful.
Tomson you are a marvel. You have mastered so many languages and genres, mediums and forms. You are shapeshifter, a trickster, a transformer, an artist. Your work is an illuminated path that you have cut into the wilderness for so many of us lost and looking for home, to find and to follow, and to ultimately cut our own path from, to find our own way through. You are an inspiration for us all to celebrate, and tonight we get that chance.
I get that chance, to say Kwookstumx. Thank you, Tomson Highway. Kisaageetin. We love you.
In August 1910, the chiefs of the Secwepemc, Nlaka’pamux and the Syilx – in the language of the settlers – the Shuswap, Thompson and Okanagan Nations delivered a document to Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier upon the occasion of his visit to Kamloops, BC. Referenced as the Laurier Memorial, the document lays out 100 years of interaction between the Interior Salish Nations and those arriving in the territory, the cultural protocols of hosting, the fundamental connection between the land and the wellbeing of the People, and the trail of broken promises alongside a request, a demand to do right by the people of the Interior Salish.
When I arrived in Kamloops in July 1999 to take up my post at Western Canada Theatre, Artistic Director David Ross, Kukpi (Chief) Manny Jules and Kukpi Ron Ignace had already been discussing the creation of a play based on the Laurier Memorial; the broken promises and the calls to action in the 90-year-old document being all too relevant in the current world. WCT and the Secwepemc Cultural Education Society, in collaboration with the City of Kamloops, jointly commissioned Tomson Highway to write the play: Ernestine Shuswap Gets Her Trout premiered on the newly renovated Sagebrush Theatre stage in January 2004. Grand National Chief Phil Fontaine, chiefs and leaders from all 17 Secwepemc Nations, leaders and chiefs from the Nlaka’pamux and Syilx Nations all attended the official opening.
Tomson, in his inimitable way, brought the words of the historical document alive through the characters of four women preparing the feast for the visiting prime minister. It was the first world premiere in which I had a hand. It was personal: I am Syilx – or Okanagan – and was the first to read the role of Annabelle Okanagan. And an afternoon of tea on the deck of my parents’ home where my dad shared his knowledge of the land and the grasses and the food sources from the earth was so beautifully, humorously and accurately captured forever in the play. It was profound. Tomson’s Trickster nature, blending the light and the dark because they are one and the same; positioning the realities of daily existence within the existential experience of daily life disappearing before our eyes; the rhythm and beauty of language, the music and harmony of voices, the joy and tragedy in the circle of life: this is the realm, the art and the wisdom of Tomson Highway. The audience on that night in January of 2004 roared with the laughter of recognition. We hope that is your experience tonight: roaring with laughter in recognition and appreciation of the art and the man. Tomson Highway: Kisaageetin
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Show List
All songs and plays composed and written by Tomson Highway
1. Taansi (from Rose) with Ensemble
2. White Boys Fall in Love (from Rose) with Ensemble
3. “Kisaageetin” Means “I Love You” (from Rose) with Ensemble
4. Van Scene from The Rez Sisters
5. Taansi, Neechimoos (Hello, Darling) (from Cree Country) with Ensemble
6. The Lunch (from-a-work-in-progress) with Ensemble
7. Monologue from Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing
8. When Children Sleep (from Rose) with Ensemble
9. Rio in High January (from Rose) with Ensemble
10. Theme from The Sage, The Dancer and the Fool
11. The Flight (from Chief Salamoo Cook Comes to Town)
12. Thank You Song (from Rose) with Ensemble
Director’s Notes
What an honor to be invited to take part in such a joyous occasion. I’m just tickled by you, Tomson Highway! 70 and full of life, with an imagination as big as your heart. It is a great pleasure to be invited into your home and into your creative world once again. I cherish our time by the shores of Sharbot Lake, in the taverns of Peterborough, to Scotland, and to the depths of Bear Lake. Chi miigwetch for your generosity and openness to play, taking us all on a glorious ride. You’re a practiced magician who can bring such a beautiful ensemble together in the blink of an eye. And what a beautiful group of people you have brought together.
Tonight, friends and family and friendly strangers will experience potent emotions that will ignite a social closeness. A medicine that is needed more than ever, reminding me of a quote by the infamous Gabrielle Roy, “Could we ever know each other in the slightest without the arts?”.
Kisaageetin, Tomson. Kwayas kita-gaagi-tee-aan ig’wa kiskaata mitooni ateek ooskaata eesi-naag’waa-g’wow.
Patti Shaughnessy
Artists
Marcus Ali was born in Toronto to Trinidadian parents who loved great music. A versatile musician who is equally at home in a wide range of genres, he has played on more than seventy albums on a variety of woodwinds (saxophones, flutes, clarinets, West African flutes, tin whistles). He has performed, toured and recorded with dozens of artists including Grand Prix de Jazz award winner Nick Ali and Cruzao, Juno nominees Matt Dusk, Jason Wilson, Mr Something Something, and Tomson Highway. He has toured extensively across Canada as well as throughout the U.S., the U.K., the Caribbean and Japan.
Actor, storyteller, and activist, Cherish Violet Blood is a proud Blackfoot woman who hails from the Kainai Nation, or Blood Tribe Reserve #148 in Treaty 7 territory located in southern Alberta. Currently residing in Toronto, Ontario, Cherish is a professionally trained and well recognized performing artist with active followings in the national Indigenous and international theatre communities. Cherish has performed all over North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Scotland.
Select credits include creator/performer in Material Witness (Spiderwoman Theatre La Mama, NYC), creator/performer in Making Treaty 7 directed by Michelle Thrush in Calgary, AB. And most recently, the lead role in Deer Woman, a new play that has been touring internationally by Tara Beagan. As a natural comedian Cherish has hosted many album release parties for artists such as Iskwe, LAL, and Fiver, as well as for community events and numerous fundraisers. Cherish was recently awarded a Canadian Screen Award for Actress in a Supporting Role for Scarborough.
Patricia Cano is a Peruvian-Canadian actor and singer-songwriter born and raised in Sudbury, ON. Since 2001, she has travelled the world singing Cree Cabaret alongside Cree playwright/ author/composer extraordinaire, Tomson Highway. In 2017, Patricia won the Toronto Theatre Critics Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in Cree, English and French in Highway’s one-woman musical, The (Post) Mistress. Her acting credits include memorable years spent as a member of the renowned French theatre company, Le Théâtre du Soleil, and later as a member of the NAC’s English Theatre Company.
Her solo music career was launched in 2009 with the release of her first studio album,This is the New World - a collaboration with Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist, Carlos Bernardo. The album won Best Album by a Solo Artist at the 2011 Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards and led to years of cross-Canada touring. In October 2017, Patricia released her much anticipated sophomore album, Madre Amiga Hermana, of which one reviewer wrote, “This is an outstanding release from a supremely talented songwriter and vocalist” (Raul Da Gama, World Music Report, Oct 2017). In 2019, Patricia won the Northern Ontario Music & Film award for Outstanding Vocal Performance on a Recording for her rendition of Violeta Parra’s “Gracias a la Vida”.
In February 2021, Patricia released a recording entitled The Love & Resistance Sessions, a four-song collaboration, crafted with love in the time of Covid, with multi-instrumentalist and composer Louis Simão. Most recently, Patricia voiced the audiobook for Tomson Highway’s Kiss of the Fur Queen for Penguin Random House released in June 2021, and performed in Zaagidiwin for Luminato 2021. In Spring of this year, Tomson Highway released his new Cree Country studio album on which Patricia sings all songs in Cree. What a [joyful] honour it is, indeed
Discovery is the beauty of music. It reveals itself in layers. Such is the evolution of Celeigh Cardinal. With a confident voice and boundless energy, Cardinal owns a stage, connecting deeply with her audience through humour, passion and love. In 2020, Cardinal achieved one of Canada’s highest musical accolades, a JUNO Award for Indigenous Artist of the Year. She also received two Western Canadian Music Award nominations, including Indigenous Artist of the Year and Songwriter of the Year. With two full-length albums completed and a future release in the works, Celeigh’s voice is quickly becoming one of the great Canadian voices that make up the fabric of the Canadian music scene.
Gary Farmer is an actor and musician, having received three Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male in films Powwow Highway (1989), Dead Man (1995), and Smoke Signals (1998). In his career spanning over four decades, Farmer originated the role of Zachary Jeremiah Keecheegeshik in the original production of Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing for Theatre Passe Muraille, Native Earth Performing Arts and eventually the Royal Alexander Theatre all in Toronto 1989-90. Recent credits include series regular on Resident Alien for NBC Universal/SyFy Network, Reservation Dogs for FX/Hulu, The English for BBC/Amazon (September 2022).
Mezzo-soprano Michelle Lafferty is a First Nations Indigenous woman from the Northwest Territories and graduated in 2019 from The University of Western Ontario with her Master’s in Literature and Performance. She continues to work with the Classical Indigenous Musicians Gathering curated by The Banff Centre for the Performing Arts and ongoing work with Calgary Opera in the new opera lab creation Namwayut with dramaturge Marion Newman. She has worked in the improvised project Understory led by team Parmela Attariwala, Germaine Liua and Nicole Ramperaud. She received her first Dora award for her work in Sound Streams’ Pimooteewin/Gallabartnit as best choral ensemble.
Cheri Maracle is a Haudenosaunee/Irish Actress, Singer, Playwright, and Host of the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. She has been performing on stages across Turtle Island and abroad for over 25 years and has many TV, stage, and music credits to her name.
Some selected TV/Film credits include Bones of Crows (CBC), Alaska Daily (CTV), UNSETTLED (APTN, TVO), The Coroner (CBC), The Parker Andersons (Marble Media), Tribal (APTN), DeGrassi (Netflix, Epitome), and Murdoch Mysteries (CBC). Cheri was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Canadian Screen Awards for her role of Sara Bull in the series Blackstone (APTN). Cheri also has numerous stage credits to her name and was nominated for Best Solo Performance for her portrayal of Pauline Johnson in the world premiere of Paddle Song at High Performance Rodeo. She has appeared in selected Theatre pieces: The UNNATURAL & ACCIDENTAL WOMEN (NAC), The Hours That Remain (Theatre Aquarius), Kisaageetin, We Love You (NAC), The Rez Sisters (Belfry Theatre), White Noise (Firehall Theatre), and more…
Cheri has hosted the INDSPIRE AWARDS for Global TV, Planet IndigenUS (Harbourfront Centre), TU Jazz Fest (Ontario Place), Talking Stick Festival Music Night, and Indigenous Music Awards shows, and events across Turtle Island.
Cheri’s musical background began with hand drum music, with the Indigenous Women’s group Tiyoweh. She then penned two original albums, Closer To Home, and If I Am Water, which garnered several nominations in the Indigenous Music Industry. Her third album, Ache of Love, is a jazz compilation, for her forever love of jazz music. Cheri had the privilege of portraying Mildred Bailey at the First Ladies of Jazz concert, at the Celebration of Nations Gathering in St. Catherines. Most recently, Cheri played the Waterloo Jazz Fest and the TU Jazz Fest in Ontario with her Quintet. Cheri’s music can be found on iTunes and Spotify.
At the crossroads of theatre, performance and media arts, Émilie Monnet’s work is most often presented in the form of interdisciplinary theatre or performative installations. Her artistic approach favors collaborative and multilingual creative processes, and explores the themes of identity, memory, history and transformation. A committed interdisciplinary artist, in 2011 she founded Onishka Productions in order to forge links between artists from different cultures and disciplines. Artist in Residence at the Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui from 2018 to 2021, she is now the artist in residence at Espace GO for the next three years.
Most recently, she presented her play Okinum at the Centaur Theater and at the National Arts Centre, and her new creation Marguerite: le feu will be produced next spring. Émilie is Algonquin/French and currently lives between the Outaouais and Tiohtià: ke / Mooniyaang / Montréal.
Andrina Turenne is a Red River Métis/Franco-Manitoban artist from St-Boniface, Manitoba. Her love of music first sparked around campfires, where she learned to sing and harmonise with relatives and friends as a young child. A singer, songwriter and musician, she has worked in the music industry for over 20 years. She has contributed to nearly 50 albums, has performed on stages across five continents and has been featured on TV and radio in Canada and internationally. Formerly of JUNO award-winning group Chic Gamine, Andrina Turenne has been gaining momentum as a solo artist since 2016. Her music has also found its way to the world of theatre: She composed original music for Gabriel Dumont’s Wild West Show and toured with acclaimed playwright, author and concert pianist Tomson Highway. The singer was invited to participate in the installation ceremony for Canada’s first Indigenous Governor General, Mary Simon, in July of 2021. Her performance of “En plein coeur mai”, a co-written song about the Métis resistance at Batoche, was broadcast live across the country. In early 2022, with support from the Canada Council for the Arts, she undertook a four-month creative residency in Louisiana to write new music and collaborate with local artists. In Fall 2022, she will release her first solo album of original, bilingual compositions, as well as a francophone EP.
Credits
Indigenous Theatre Team
Artistic Director: Kevin Loring
Managing Director: Lori Marchand
Producer: Samantha MacDonald
Associate Producer: Sage Nokomis Wright
Indigenous Cultural Resident: Mairi Brascoupé
Education Coordinator: Kerry Corbiere
Technical Director: Spike Lyne
Communications Strategist: Danyka Ouellet
Marketing Strategist: Jenna Spagnoli
Senior Marketing Manager: Bridget Mooney
Associate Producer #ReconcileThis: Paula Chinkiwsky
Babs Aper Theatre Team
Head Carpenter: Charles Martin
Head Properties: Michel Sanscartier
Head Electrician: Eric Tessier
Assistant Electrician: Martin Racette
Head Flyman: Al Griffore
Head Sound: Doug Millar
Projectionists, Wardrobe Mistresses, Masters and Attendants are members of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 471.
NAC Indigenous Theatre is a member of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres and engages professional Artists who are members of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association under the terms of the jointly negotiated Canadian Theatre Agreement.
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