Stage Door News
Stage Door News
TORONTO, ON – Native Earth Performing Arts announces the line-up for its 33rd season, which showcases the talent of Indigenous dancers, playwrights, emerging artists and visual artists from across Turtle Island (North America) and beyond. Artistic Director Ryan Cunningham and Managing Director Isaac Thomas are inviting to Aki Studio compelling artists at different stages of their careers, practising disciplines across the great spectrum that is Indigenous art.
HUFF BY CLIFF CARDINAL
Directed by Karin Randoja and starring Cliff Cardinal
October 10-25, 2015 | Aki Studio
Single Tickets $15-$30
Fresh off the critical success of Stitch, Native Earth kicks off their 33rd season with another daring solo show by award-winning Cree playwright Cliff Cardinal, one of the most exciting new voices in Canadian theatre. Huff is the wrenching, yet darkly comic tale of Wind and his brothers, caught in a torrent of solvent abuse and struggling to cope with the death of their mother. With his signature biting humour and raw, vivid imagery, Cardinal expertly portrays over a dozen characters in his captivating solo performance.
CAMINOS 2015: RE-IMAGINING LAS AMERICAS
Presented in partnership with Aluna Theatre
November 3-7, 2015 | Aki Studio
Single Tickets $15-$20, Festival Pass $50
Presented in partnership with Aluna Theatre, CAMINOS is a week of new works-in-progress from some of the most exciting Latin-Canadian voices working in theatre and dance. This is the Pan-America that lives here in Toronto. Each evening features performance experiments and a lively exchange of ideas. Featuring new works from Rosa Labordé, Carmen Aguirre, and Aluna’s Bilingual Ensemble, as well as Australian-Colombian Walter J. Broderick performing his adaptation of Beckett’s First Love.
WEESAGEECHAK BEGINS TO DANCE 28:
ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF INDIGENOUS WORKS
November 11-21, 2015 | Aki Studio
Single Tickets $15, Festival Pass $60
Native Earth is thrilled to announce that this year’s 28th Weesageechak Festival will include a wide range of artists from across Canada and the USA. The two-week festival will showcase exciting works by Lara Kramer (Tame), Jani Lauzon (Prophecy Fog), Michelle Thrush (Find Your Own Inner Elder), and Kenneth T. Williams (In Care). In addition to these established artists, Weesageechak will also feature new works by emerging and mid-career artists, such as Yolanda Bonnell, Brian Solomon, and writers from the Animikiig Playwrights’ Program.
DANCE DOUBLE BILL: LARA KRAMER & DANCERS OF DAMELAHAMID
Presented in partnership with DanceWorks
April 21-23, 2016 | Aki Studio
Single Tickets $25, Double Bill $40
In April 2016, Native Earth will host a three-night double bill of dance, featuring original works by Montreal-based Lara Kramer and the Vancouver-based Dancers of Damelahamid.
This cross-country showcase of Indigenous dance begins with the Dancers of Damelahamid’s signature new piece Luu hlotitxw: Spirit Transforming, a meditation on the process of introspection, self- discovery, and change that all people must go through. Accessible for audiences of all ages, Spirit Transforming explores the richness and beauty of the tradition of Gitxsan masked dance to tell the story of a young person’s search of self, asking the question, “What is contemporary Aboriginal identity in traditional dance forms?”
The evening continues with the hard-hitting and very personal NGS (Native Girl Syndrome), an original work by Ojibwa/Cree dancer and choreographer Lara Kramer. NGS dives into street culture, as enacted in a raw theatrical performance by Karina Iraola and Angie Cheng. Their drug-filled, disassociated personas take the audience on a dynamic journey of addiction, loss, and alienation. Inspired by the experience of Kramer’s own grandmother who migrated from a remote First Nations community into an unfamiliar urban environment as a young woman, this powerful work explores the effects of cultural disorientation, assimilation, and the self-destructive behaviour she endured.
PAPRIKA FESTIVAL 2016
May 2016 | Aki Studio
Native Earth is proud to partner for the first time with Paprika Festival to bring their youth-led performing arts festival to Aki Studio. The Paprika Festival celebrates the work of young and emerging artists, and operates as a training ground for tomorrow’s professional artists. Together, through this partnership, Native Earth and Paprika Festival will offer a barrier-free accessible program for Indigenous youth and residents of Regent Park, creating opportunities for young artists to become more engaged than ever before. Information about festival programs will be available in September 2015.
“We invite you to Aki Studio; our community’s lodge,
where incredible Indigenous art lives and everyone is welcome.”
– Ryan Cunningham, Artistic Director
HUFF BY CLIFF CARDINAL
Directed by Karin Randoja and starring Cliff Cardinal
October 10-25, 2015, Aki Studio | Single Tickets $15-$30
CAMINOS 2015: RE-IMAGINING LAS AMERICAS
Presented in partnership with Aluna Theatre
November 3-7, 2015, Aki Studio | Single Tickets $15-$20, Festival Pass $50
WEESAGEECHAK BEGINS TO DANCE 28:
ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF INDIGENOUS WORKS
November 11-21, 2015, Aki Studio | Single Tickets $15, Festival Pass $60
DANCE DOUBLE BILL
LARA KRAMER & DANCERS OF DAMELAHAMID
Presented in partnership with DanceWorks
April 21-23, 2016, Aki Studio | Single Tickets $25, Double Bill $40
PAPRIKA FESTIVAL 2016
May 2016, Aki Studio
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2015-08-07
Toronto: Native Earth Performing Arts announces its 2015/16 season