“I’d never seen a play that speaks to issues facing Canada’s Indigenous peoples as effectively and beautifully as Bears does.
”
BEARS
by Matthew MacKenzie
January 18 - 27, 2018
The Theatre Centre (1115 Queen Street W)
A multi-disciplinary dark comedy about the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline, Bears asks what the hell it is we think we're doing here in Wild Rose Country.
The prime suspect in a workplace accident, Floyd has to get out of town fast. Pursued by the RCMP, he heads through the Rockies for Burnaby, B.C, along the route of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline. By the time he reaches the Pacific, Floyd has experienced changes - his gait widening, his muscles bulging, his sense of smell heightening....
Bears by Matthew MacKenzie (SIA, The Particulars, The Other) is an ambitious, theatrically innovative, Indigenous-led new Canadian play. Told through dramatic storytelling, an integrated 9-person chorus, an enchanting projection design and an evocative electronic soundscape, Bears is not just a play: it is emotional, empathetic performance experience.
Impact
Few environmental issues facing Canadians are attracting as much attention as the Tar Sands and the proposed massive expansion of their exploitation.
Performed first in Edmonton in February 2015, Bears was a sell-out success, garnering considerable Arts and non-Arts media attention.
Bears gives a voice to the voiceless, vulnerable animals and landscapes desecrated by the insatiable human desire for industrial expansion. On his journey fleeing the RCMP, Floyd encounters: a golden eagle drowned in oil; the melting “tears” of Mount Edith Cavell’s Angel Glacier; a mother wolf bleeding “Canadian red” on a blanket of snow; and much more. With Bears, our companies strive to increase dialogue about the devastating effects economic greed is taking on the lands of our country’s First Nations peoples.
Unapologetically political, Bears is a welcome new Canadian play, led by a cast and creative team of primarily Indigenous artists.
“It’s rare enough to find original theatre that is so definably of this place. Theatre that harnesses the divergent resources of multi-disciplinary artists so creatively to mount an argument is rarer still.
You can’t really afford to miss Bears.
”
YOU IN?
University students receive a special price of $17/ticket.
For individual tickets (or for groups 10 and under), please visit the Theatre Centre Box Office website , or call 416.538.0988
For large group bookings (over 10), please contact our Outreach Coordinator.
Please inquire regarding chaperone rates
Who we are & Why we are
Alberta Aboriginal Performing Arts (AAPA) is an Aboriginal Theatre and Performing Arts organization based in Edmonton, Alberta. Our mandate is to nurture and cultivate an Aboriginal arts scene in Edmonton by creating opportunities for Aboriginal Artists, Writers and Performers to present their work to the public. We produce events that bring artists of multiple disciplines and Aboriginal traditions together. Our goal is to encourage and inspire collaborations in art and performance in both contemporary and traditional styles and to bring these creations to audiences across Alberta. AAPA provides audiences of all backgrounds a chance to experience challenging artistic works that speak from a unique Aboriginal perspective.
Punctuate! Theatre is a Sterling Award winning professional theatre company based in Edmonton Alberta. We are dedicated to creating diverse, multidisciplinary dance and theatre productions. We engage both professional and emerging artists, providing mentorship opportunities within the artistic and production team. We think Albertans deserve to have cultural and artistic events brought to their communities.
Our Joint Venture - Bears
This project is an exciting collaboration between these two award- winning Alberta theatre companies’ with national scope, Alberta Aboriginal Performing Arts (AAPA) and Punctuate! Theatre. Bears will be performed at Toronto’s acclaimed live arts-hub & incubator:
The Theatre Centre (1115 Queen Street W)
January 18 - 27, 2018
Tix @ www.theatrecentre.org & 416.538.0988
Meet the Team
Playwright Matthew MacKenzie
In 1841, MacKenzie's great, great, great kokom Kisiskaciwan passed through Alberta. For three days, as her party stocked up on supplies, she sat by the North Saskatchewan River—her namesake, and cried. An Englishman recorded in his account of the journey that Kisiskaciwan had the same veneration for the North Saskatchewan as those of the Hindu faith do for the Ganges. This historical account led MacKenzie to write Bears .
Matthew Mackenzie is a multi-award winning and Sterling nominated playwright. Among his awards and recognition are the National Theatre School's Lieutenant Governor’s award for excellence and community involvement, Tarragon Theatre's Top Emerging Playwright Award (2012), and he was the 2010 Grand Prize recipient of the 44th Alberta Playwriting Competition. Matthew has had nearly a dozen of his works produced in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, and New York. Since the 2014 theatre season, Matthew has had 8 professional premieres of his work across Canada.
“Alberta Aboriginal Performing Arts has been an active partner in the development of Bears.
Supporting Matt as he engages with and explores his Cree heritage in a meaningful, respectful way, has been a journey I have been thrilled to accompany this Alberta playwright on.”
Creative Team
Bears features award-winning actor and former tar-sands worker Sheldon Elter (Métis) (creator and performer of Dora nominated Métis Mutt) as Floyd.
Supporting Floyd will be a chorus of twelve dancers choreographed by 7-time Dora Award nominee Monica Dottor (co-Artistic Director Company Blonde ).
Underscoring Floyd’s journey will be an original soundscape by Sterling award winning electronic composer Noor Dean Musani, while multiple Sterling Award winning designer Erin Gruber’s environmental design will transport winter-weary Torontonian audiences into a mountainous summerscape.
Chorus and Production Team
Featuring: Skye Demas, Lara Ebata, Christine Sokaymoh Frederick, Zoe Glassman, Alida Kendell, Aimee Rushton, Rebecca Sadowski, Kendra Shorter, Holly Treddenick and Gianna Vacirca.
Written and Directed by Matthew MacKenzie
Associate Direction by Patrick Lundeen
Artistic Production by Doreen Cardinal & Sheiny Satanove
SEE YOU THERE!
