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Direniş Olarak Yerli Tiyatrosu: 1980’lerin Sonundan 1990’ların Başına Kanada’nın Gelişmekte Olan Yerli Tiyatro Sahnesinin Bir Merkezi Olarak Toronto

Year 2023, Volume: 1 Issue: 2, 116 - 134, 26.09.2023

Abstract

1980’lerin sonu ve 1990’ların başı, Kanada’nın en büyük şehri olan Toronto’daki Yerli Tiyatro sahnesi için büyük bir gelişme dönemiydi. Bu makale, geleneksel ve hegemonik Kanada kültürel üretiminin sınırlarında bir alan olan Yerli Tiyatro sahnesinin gelişimine daha yakından bakmayı amaçlamaktadır. Yerli yaratıcıların kendileri için oluşturduğu bu alan, Kanada genelinde henüz bu ölçüde yer alamayan Yerli seslere ve hikâye anlatımına yer açmıştır. Bu alanın yaratılması, Yerli Tiyatrosu’nun Kanada ve Kuzey Amerika’da genişlemesine yol açmış ve aynı zamanda Yerli aktivizmi aracılığıyla hissedilen Yerli seslere yönelik ana akım ilgi ve alan oluşturmuştur. Bu çalışmada Kanada’nın ilk yerli tiyatro topluluğu olan Toronto merkezli Native Earth Performing Arts daha yakından incelenerek, Drew Hayden Taylor’ın (Curve Lake First Nations) Toronto at Dreamer’s Rock ve Daniel David Moses’ın (Delware/Tuscarora) Almighty Voice and His Wife adlı oyunları analiz edilecektir. Ayrıca bu makale bu iki metinde o dönemin çalışmalarında yaygın olan ortak temaların izini sürmeyi ve bu oyunların özellikle Toronto ve oradaki Yerli Tiyatro sahnesiyle olan ilişkileri bağlamında mekânla olan bağlantılarını ortaya çıkarmayı amaçlamaktadır.

References

  • About: Our Beginning (n.d.). Centre for Indigenous Theatre. Retrieved on March 3, 2023, from https://www.indigenoustheatre.com/about
  • Akiwenzie-Damm, K. (1996). We belong to this land: A view of ‘cultural difference.’ Journal of Canadian Studies, 31(3)21-28. https://doi.org/10.3138/jcs.31.3.21
  • Barker, A.J., & Battell Lowman, E. (2015). Settler: Identity and colonialism in 21st century Canada. Fernwood Publishing.
  • Dry Lips Ought to Move to Kapuskasing (n.d.). Mirvish. Retrieved on March 3, 2023, from https://www.mirvish.com/learn/show-archives/dry-lips-oughta-move-to-kapuskasing#:~:text=In%201991%2C%20Dry%20Lips%20Oughta,were%20loudly%20and%20passionately%20lauded
  • Ermine, W. (2007). The ethical space of engagement. Indigenous Law Journal, 6(1)193-203. https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ilj/article/view/27669
  • Fee, M. (2010). The trickster moment, cultural appropriation, and the liberal imagination in Canada. In D. Reder and L. Morra (Eds) Troubling tricksters: Revisioning critical conversations (pp. 59-76). Wilfred Laurier University Press.
  • Godard, B. (1990). The politics of representation: Some Native Canadian women writers. Canadian Literature [special issue: Native writers and Canadian writing], 124/125, 183-225.
  • Government of Canada. (2021, September 14). Origin of the names of Canada’s provincial and territorial capitals. Natural Resources Canada. Retrieved on June 30, 2023 from https://natural-resources.canada.ca/earth-sciences/geography/origins-canadas-geographical-names/origin-names-canadas-provincial-and-territorial-capitals/9188
  • Hanson, E., Gamez, D., & Manuel, A. (2020). The residential school system. Indigenous Foundations. Retreived on September 5, 2023, from https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/residential-school-system-2020/
  • Highway, T. (1988). The rez sisters. Fifth House Publishing.
  • Highway, T. (1991). Dry Lips oughta move to Kapuskasing. Fifth House Publishing.
  • Highway, T. (2016). On Native mythology (1987). In H. Macfarlane and A. G. Ruffo (Eds.) Introduction to Indigenous literary criticism in Canada (pp. 21-24). Broadview Press.
  • History (2019). Native Earth Performing Arts. Retrieved March 18, 2023, from https://www.nativeearth.ca/about/history/
  • Johnston, B. H. (2005 March 19). Association for Native Development in the Visual and Performing Arts [meeting notes]. Basil H. Johnston fonds (Fonds RC0038, box 21, folder 16). William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON.
  • Justice, D. H. (2004). Conjuring marks: Furthering Indigenous empowerment through literature. American Indian Quarterly, 28(1-2)2-11. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4139037
  • King, H. (2021). Rising like a cloud: New histories of ‘old’ Toronto. In D. Bolduc, M. Gordon-Corbiere, R. Tabobondung, & B. Wright-McLeod (Eds.) Indigenous Toronto: Stories that carry this place (pp. 9-14). Coach House Books.
  • Maracle, L. (2010). Towards a national literature: ‘A body of writing.’ In P. DePasquale, R. Eigenbrod, & E. LaRoque (Eds.) Across cultures/across borders: Canadian Aboriginal and Native American literatures (pp. 77-96). Broadview Press.
  • McKegney, S. (2008). Strategies for ethical engagement: An open letter concerning Non-Native scholars of Native literatures. Studies in American Indian Literature (ser. 2), 2(4)56-67. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20737443
  • Moses, D. D. (1992). Almighty Voice and his wife. Playwrights Canada Press.
  • Moses, D. D. (2004). The trickster’s laugh: My meeting with Tomson and Lenore. American Indian Quarterly, 28 (1/2), 107-111.
  • New, W. H. (1990). Editorial: Learning to listen. Canadian Literature [special issue: Native writers and Canadian writing], 124/125, 4-8.
  • Nolan, Y. (2009). Introduction, In Almighty Voice and His Wife (pp. i-ii). Playwrights Canada Press.
  • Nothof, A. (2019, October 18). Dry Lips oughta move to Kapuskasing. Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia. Retrieved on March 3, 2023, from https://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=Dry%20Lips%20Oughta%20Move%20to%20Kapuskasing
  • Our beginning (n. d.) Centre for Indigenous Theatre. Retrieved on March 17, 2023, from https://www.indigenoustheatre.com/about
  • Preston, J. (1992). Weesageechak begins to dance: Native Earth Performing Arts Inc. The Drama Review, 36(1)135-159. https://doi.org/10.2307/1146184
  • Robinson, D. (2016). Acts of defiance in Indigenous Theatre: A conversation with Lisa C. Ravensbergen. In K. Martin & D. Robinson (Eds.) Arts of engagement: Taking aesthetic action in and beyond the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (pp. 181-192). Wilfred Laurier University Press.
  • Robinson, D. & Martin, K. (2016). Introduction: ‘The body is a resonant chamber.’ In K. Martin & D. Robinson (Eds.) Arts of engagement: Taking aesthetic action in and beyond the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (pp. 1-20). Wilfred Laurier University Press.
  • Ruffo, A. G. (1997). Why Native literature? American Indian Quarterly, 21(4)663-673. https://doi.org/10.2307/1185718
  • Simpson, L. B. (2017) As we have always done: Indigenous freedom through radical resistance. University of Minnesota Press.
  • Taylor, D. H. (1990). Toronto at Dreamer’s Rock/Education is our right: Two one-act plays. Fifth House Publishing.
  • Vizenor, G. (2010). Aesthetics of survivance: Literary theory and practice. In Survivance: Narratives of Native presence (pp. 1-23). University of Nebraska Press.
  • Wright, K. (2014). Performing cultural crossroads: The subject-making functions of “I am” declarations in Daniel David Moses’s Almighty Voice and His Wife. Theatre Research in Canada, 35(2), 185-202. https://link-gale-com.libaccess.lib.mcmaster.ca/apps/doc/A404275793/AONE?u=ocul_mcmaster&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=e11d3e7a

Indigenous Theatre as Resistance: Toronto as a Nexus for Canada’s Burgeoning Indigenous Theatre Scene from Late 1980s to Early 1990s

Year 2023, Volume: 1 Issue: 2, 116 - 134, 26.09.2023

Abstract

The late 1980s and early 1990s were times of great development for the Indigenous Theatre scene in Toronto, Canada’s largest city. This paper seeks to provide a closer look at the development of an Indigenous Theatre scene, a space on the fringes of traditional and hegemonic Canadian cultural production. This space, created by and for Indigenous creatives, made space for Indigenous voices and storytelling that did not yet exist to such a degree across Canada. The creation of this space led to the expansion of Indigenous Theatre across Canada and North America, as well as established mainstream interest and space for Indigenous voices, something that was felt through Indigenous activism of this time. By taking a closer look at Canada’s first Indigenous Theatre company, Native Earth Performing Arts, which is based in Toronto, as well as analyzing two fundamental texts, Drew Hayden Taylor’s (Curve Lake First Nations) Toronto at Dreamer’s Rock and Daniel David Moses’ (Delaware/Tuscarora) Almighty Voice and His Wife, this paper will trace the common themes in these two texts that were prevalent in the work of this time, as well as unpack the connection these plays have to place, specifically in their relation to Toronto and the Indigenous Theatre scene there.

References

  • About: Our Beginning (n.d.). Centre for Indigenous Theatre. Retrieved on March 3, 2023, from https://www.indigenoustheatre.com/about
  • Akiwenzie-Damm, K. (1996). We belong to this land: A view of ‘cultural difference.’ Journal of Canadian Studies, 31(3)21-28. https://doi.org/10.3138/jcs.31.3.21
  • Barker, A.J., & Battell Lowman, E. (2015). Settler: Identity and colonialism in 21st century Canada. Fernwood Publishing.
  • Dry Lips Ought to Move to Kapuskasing (n.d.). Mirvish. Retrieved on March 3, 2023, from https://www.mirvish.com/learn/show-archives/dry-lips-oughta-move-to-kapuskasing#:~:text=In%201991%2C%20Dry%20Lips%20Oughta,were%20loudly%20and%20passionately%20lauded
  • Ermine, W. (2007). The ethical space of engagement. Indigenous Law Journal, 6(1)193-203. https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ilj/article/view/27669
  • Fee, M. (2010). The trickster moment, cultural appropriation, and the liberal imagination in Canada. In D. Reder and L. Morra (Eds) Troubling tricksters: Revisioning critical conversations (pp. 59-76). Wilfred Laurier University Press.
  • Godard, B. (1990). The politics of representation: Some Native Canadian women writers. Canadian Literature [special issue: Native writers and Canadian writing], 124/125, 183-225.
  • Government of Canada. (2021, September 14). Origin of the names of Canada’s provincial and territorial capitals. Natural Resources Canada. Retrieved on June 30, 2023 from https://natural-resources.canada.ca/earth-sciences/geography/origins-canadas-geographical-names/origin-names-canadas-provincial-and-territorial-capitals/9188
  • Hanson, E., Gamez, D., & Manuel, A. (2020). The residential school system. Indigenous Foundations. Retreived on September 5, 2023, from https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/residential-school-system-2020/
  • Highway, T. (1988). The rez sisters. Fifth House Publishing.
  • Highway, T. (1991). Dry Lips oughta move to Kapuskasing. Fifth House Publishing.
  • Highway, T. (2016). On Native mythology (1987). In H. Macfarlane and A. G. Ruffo (Eds.) Introduction to Indigenous literary criticism in Canada (pp. 21-24). Broadview Press.
  • History (2019). Native Earth Performing Arts. Retrieved March 18, 2023, from https://www.nativeearth.ca/about/history/
  • Johnston, B. H. (2005 March 19). Association for Native Development in the Visual and Performing Arts [meeting notes]. Basil H. Johnston fonds (Fonds RC0038, box 21, folder 16). William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON.
  • Justice, D. H. (2004). Conjuring marks: Furthering Indigenous empowerment through literature. American Indian Quarterly, 28(1-2)2-11. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4139037
  • King, H. (2021). Rising like a cloud: New histories of ‘old’ Toronto. In D. Bolduc, M. Gordon-Corbiere, R. Tabobondung, & B. Wright-McLeod (Eds.) Indigenous Toronto: Stories that carry this place (pp. 9-14). Coach House Books.
  • Maracle, L. (2010). Towards a national literature: ‘A body of writing.’ In P. DePasquale, R. Eigenbrod, & E. LaRoque (Eds.) Across cultures/across borders: Canadian Aboriginal and Native American literatures (pp. 77-96). Broadview Press.
  • McKegney, S. (2008). Strategies for ethical engagement: An open letter concerning Non-Native scholars of Native literatures. Studies in American Indian Literature (ser. 2), 2(4)56-67. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20737443
  • Moses, D. D. (1992). Almighty Voice and his wife. Playwrights Canada Press.
  • Moses, D. D. (2004). The trickster’s laugh: My meeting with Tomson and Lenore. American Indian Quarterly, 28 (1/2), 107-111.
  • New, W. H. (1990). Editorial: Learning to listen. Canadian Literature [special issue: Native writers and Canadian writing], 124/125, 4-8.
  • Nolan, Y. (2009). Introduction, In Almighty Voice and His Wife (pp. i-ii). Playwrights Canada Press.
  • Nothof, A. (2019, October 18). Dry Lips oughta move to Kapuskasing. Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia. Retrieved on March 3, 2023, from https://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=Dry%20Lips%20Oughta%20Move%20to%20Kapuskasing
  • Our beginning (n. d.) Centre for Indigenous Theatre. Retrieved on March 17, 2023, from https://www.indigenoustheatre.com/about
  • Preston, J. (1992). Weesageechak begins to dance: Native Earth Performing Arts Inc. The Drama Review, 36(1)135-159. https://doi.org/10.2307/1146184
  • Robinson, D. (2016). Acts of defiance in Indigenous Theatre: A conversation with Lisa C. Ravensbergen. In K. Martin & D. Robinson (Eds.) Arts of engagement: Taking aesthetic action in and beyond the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (pp. 181-192). Wilfred Laurier University Press.
  • Robinson, D. & Martin, K. (2016). Introduction: ‘The body is a resonant chamber.’ In K. Martin & D. Robinson (Eds.) Arts of engagement: Taking aesthetic action in and beyond the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (pp. 1-20). Wilfred Laurier University Press.
  • Ruffo, A. G. (1997). Why Native literature? American Indian Quarterly, 21(4)663-673. https://doi.org/10.2307/1185718
  • Simpson, L. B. (2017) As we have always done: Indigenous freedom through radical resistance. University of Minnesota Press.
  • Taylor, D. H. (1990). Toronto at Dreamer’s Rock/Education is our right: Two one-act plays. Fifth House Publishing.
  • Vizenor, G. (2010). Aesthetics of survivance: Literary theory and practice. In Survivance: Narratives of Native presence (pp. 1-23). University of Nebraska Press.
  • Wright, K. (2014). Performing cultural crossroads: The subject-making functions of “I am” declarations in Daniel David Moses’s Almighty Voice and His Wife. Theatre Research in Canada, 35(2), 185-202. https://link-gale-com.libaccess.lib.mcmaster.ca/apps/doc/A404275793/AONE?u=ocul_mcmaster&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=e11d3e7a
There are 32 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Contemporary Drama Studies
Journal Section Araştırma Makaleleri/Research Articles
Authors

Raphaela Pavlakos 0000-0001-7036-3980

Publication Date September 26, 2023
Submission Date July 27, 2023
Published in Issue Year 2023 Volume: 1 Issue: 2

Cite

APA Pavlakos, R. (2023). Indigenous Theatre as Resistance: Toronto as a Nexus for Canada’s Burgeoning Indigenous Theatre Scene from Late 1980s to Early 1990s. Theatre Academy, 1(2), 116-134.

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