This Indigenous History Month, we celebrate the role of Indigenous Theatre in celebrating and revitalizing Indigenous languages. On June 17, Indigenous Theatre Artistic Director Kevin Loring and actor and director Charles Bender engaged on the topic of language. Bender, who adapted Loring’s play Where the Blood Mixes/Là où le sang se mêle into French, chatted with Kevin about the translation process and more. Loring’s play, which won a 2009 Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama award-winning play, was presented in French and English during Indigenous Theatre’s premiere arts festival, Mòshkamo.
We celebrate that Indigenous Theatre is now a permanent platform dedicated to bringing the works of Indigenous artists to the national stage. Through a series of interviews, we revisit our national mandate to include distinct personal and cultural perspectives from coast to coast to coast and languages from all four directions. Interviews with artists who participated in Indigenous Theatre’s inaugural season act as a retrospective on our first season, which honoured the resilience, strength, and beauty of Indigenous women.
Artistic Director, Indigenous Theatre
Kevin Loring
Kevin Loring is an accomplished Canadian playwright, actor and director and was the winner of the Governor General’s Award for English Language Drama for his outstanding play, Where the Blood Mixes in 2009. The play explores the intergenerational effects of the residential school system. It toured nationally and was presented at the National Arts Centre in 2010, when Loring was serving as the NAC’s Playwright in Residence.
A Nlaka’pamux from the Lytton First Nation in British Columbia, Loring created the Songs of the Land project in 2012 in partnership with five separate organizations in his home community. The project explores 100-year-old audio recordings of songs and stories of the N’lakap’amux People. Loring has written two new plays based on his work with the community including Battle of the Birds, about domestic violence and power abuse, and The Boy Who Was Abandoned, about youth and elder neglect.
A versatile artist and leader Loring has served as the co-curator of the Talking Stick Festival, as Artist in Residence at the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre, as Artistic Director of the Savage Society in Vancouver, as a Documentary Producer of Canyon War: The Untold Story, and as the Project Leader/Creator, and Director of the Songs of the Land project in his home community of Lytton First Nation.
Since his nomination for a Prix Gémeau for hosting the young adult show C’est parti mon tipi, Charles Bender has become a regular presence on Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN). He plays the lead on Sioui-Bacon and was part of the cast of the first season of Mohawk Girls, two popular series on the network. Charles launched his acting career in French in Quebec City, and subsequently studied theatre in English at Concordia University in Montreal. Since graduating, he has appeared in a variety of productions in both English and French, including Destinée, En thérapie and Being Human. On stage, he has worked with a variety of politically and socially active theatre companies such as Teesri Duniya, Ondinnok and Tableau d’Hote, and is currently the co-artistic director of his own theatre company, Productions Menuentakuan. He sits on the board of directors of many organizations that promote Indigenous culture, and hosted the four-part documentary series 8e feu (8th Fire), a Radio-Canada TV series tackling a variety of contemporary First-Nation issues.
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