There has been an expansion of Indigenous theatre across Turtle Island in the last thirty years, as well as an emergence of research devoted to its various processes and manifestations. However, although there has been growth, there continues to be a lack of resources and support around the artistic processes, collaborations and ways of working that Indigenous theatre artists are engaging.   The central interest of this panel is to showcase Indigenous women who are redefining their theatre-making practices and dramaturgies to include relational processes that connect us to the people, places, ancestors and other beings involved in the work. Through a conversation facilitated by Dr. Dory Nason (Anishinaabe), with Quelemia Sparrow (Musqueam), Kim Senklip Harvery (Syilx, Tsilhqot'in, Ktunaxa, Dakelh) and Lindsay Lachance (Algonquin Anishinabe) the artists will present their relational and matriarchal dramaturgical processes that exemplify a flourishing of Indigenous presence, actions and knowledges through embodied and collaborative theatrical processes. Following the conference’s theme of Circles of Conversation, our panel chooses to expand an underdeveloped circle of understanding of Indigenous Women’s theatrical practices and to offer how we, as theatre practitioners, are informed by individual, nation-based or community-based knowledges, and how these practices express newfound contemporary approaches and stories.  

Speakers:

Dr. Lindsay Lachance, Artistic Associate of Indigenous Theatre at the National Arts Centre

Quelemia Sparrow, Actor/ Writer/ Director, currently writer in residence with Full Circle Theatre, Associate Playwright with Playwright's Theatre Centre and an associate artist with Urban Ink Productions

Kim Senklip Harvey, Director, Playwright, Actor