Amplifying Mi’kmaq stories and voices this Treaty Day
New play aims to showcase Mi’kmaq traditional storytelling for students
A Halifax theatre company is sharing Mi’kmaq stories with young students across Nova Scotia via a livestream this Treaty Day.
Co-writer and director Trevor Gould says the play is an embrace of Mi’kmaq traditions and storytelling. The play is being produced with Halifax Theatre for Young People.
“We’re celebrating the resiliency of the people by ‘we’re here still, we’re strong, and we’re still telling stories’,” says Gould.
The play tells three different stories intertwined together with narration. Gould says it touches on topics such as residential school, language loss, climate change, and colonialization. The play also shines a light on Mi’kmaq storytelling in ways non-Indigenous people haven’t seen before he says.
“Mi’kmaq voices are represented in a very positive light and in a very respectable and intelligent way,” he says.
He says the play is made up of an almost entirely Mi’kmaq cast and crew who mostly have no experience acting or performing in theatre. Gould says this helped create a sense of authenticity in the way they are presenting Mi’kmaq storytelling.
Anna Nibby-Woods is acting for her first time in the production, playing two different roles. She says it's been an amazing experience that has taught her a lot.
“Just to see the production and how it is produced and what people have to go through, it’s all fascinating and really interesting to me,” says Nibby-Woods.
She says in the beginning it was difficult to get into the flow of acting and learning lines, but it got easier as she connected with the other actors and the script itself. She says the content of the play is very near to her heart.
“I started feeling this connection and I kind of forgot about the script, I knew what the story was and so I really started feeling it through instead of relying on my memory,” she says.
She says it was a long journey to get the play into production. Saying it was first conceived years ago and then put on hold by the pandemic and gathering restrictions.
Gould says he hopes this play will inspire more Mi’kmaq people to create and share their stories.
“A production like this is just a beautiful door being opened for other artists to continue telling these kinds of stories and I hope that we’re planting seeds in all of these future artists minds,” he says.
Gould says it’s important to be having conversations about Indigenous stories and issues all year round, not just around Treaty Day or Indigenous History Month.
Mi’kmaq Stories: Past and Present will debut on October 1st and will be recorded in the coming weeks to be avaible for schools.
