We, ourselves and us

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This article was published 13/01/2025 (581 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kiyanaan — the name of a new Indigenous theatre festival in Winnipeg — is a southern Michif word meaning “us,” but the festival’s founder says “us” means everyone.

“It’s an inclusive ‘us,’” says Charlene Van Buekenhout, a Métis theatre producer who’s been planning the event for more than four years.

“I can’t pretend to know what everyone needs or wants, but I envisioned getting Indigenous artists, supporters and administrators in the same rooms to figure out what we need to do to create spaces for ourselves to make theatre viably and sustainably.”

For Van Buekenhout, that has meant looking backwards, forwards and all around when it comes to the festival’s programming, which includes new works from emerging writers, an in-depth conversation with Little Bird star Darla Contois and a staged reading of Ian Ross’s landmark 1996 production, fareWel.

The latter will feature original and early cast members (Tracey Nepinak, Marsha Knight, Michael Lawrenchuk, Ryan Black, Jonathan Fisher) of the Governor General’s Award-winning show.

Kiyanaan runs Saturday through Sunday at Prairie Theatre Exchange.

“We tried to have something for everyone,” says Van Buekenhout, the artistic director of Echo Theatre, the festival’s producer and Prairie Theatre Exchange’s 2024 company-in-residence.

Other events include:

• a performance of the solo clowning-bouffon piece, who will save the night sky, created in 2023 by Philip Geller through the Banff Arts Centre’s Indigenous Dramaturgies Exchange;
• a reading of playwright Ashley Cook’s supernatural family drama Gone, She’s Gone, supported by the Manitoba Association of Playwrights; and
• a cabaret with performances by Victoria Perrie, Sonya Ballantyne, Jo MacDonald, Issa Kixen, Simon Miron and the United Thunder dance team.

Van Buekenhout, who directed Darrell Racine and Dale Lakevold’s Owl Calling last fall, has been planning the festival since 2020, when she and Knight abandoned plans for a touring project during the pandemic in favour of a festival format.

In the intervening years, Van Buekenhout has completed a production internship with the Winnipeg Fringe Festival and a 10-week internship with Lori Marchand, the managing director of Indigenous Theatre at the National Arts Centre.

Those experiences helped the producer understand the rigours of festival planning, not just from a programming perspective, but from a community involvement standpoint, she says.

Van Buekenhout, whose entry-level Michif storytelling performance Minoosh Doo-Kapeeshiw will open the festival’s performance slate, says she wanted to plan Kiyanaan according to principles of multi-generational learning as reflected by the teachings of the medicine wheel.

“I wanted to focus on where we’re from, where we are, and where we’re going,” she says.

That’s best reflected through the festival’s Sunday programming, which begins with Bawaajigan, a “dreaming” workshop for the future of both the festival and Indigenous-made theatre in Canada, open only to Indigenous festival attendees.

Afterward, Indigenous artistic directors from across the country will convene in person and over Zoom for a wide-ranging panel discussion.

The day’s programming also includes an open rehearsal for Waawaashkeshiwag-Wabano, a work developed by Nova Courchene in Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre’s Pimootayowin Creators’ Circle in 2022.

“The idea is that we will get to see what they’re working on in real time,” says Van Buekenhout.

Before the staged reading of fareWel — the festival’s closing event — playwright Ross will be joined in conversation by local author, radio host and playwright Rosanna Deerchild, whose play The Secret to Good Tea opens at London’s Grand Theatre on Feb. 18 and at the National Arts Centre on March 20.

Day passes and full festival passes are available at affordable ($10, $15), general ($25, $40) and donor level ($50, $75) tiers.

ben.waldman@winnipegfreepress.com