Indigenous Summer Play Readings 2017
June & July 2017
This summer marks the 7th edition of these popular readings showcasing works by Indigenous playwrights and featuring talented local actors along the banks of the Yukon River.
Bear in Stream
By Henry Frank Kaash Katasse
Directed by Andrameda Lutchman
Old Fire Hall - June 20th
Teslin Tlingit Heritage Centre - July 29th
An uncle teaches his nephew to appreciate the resilience of salmon.
The July 5th encore reading was a Cultural Presentation at the Adäka Cultural Festival and the July 29th encore reading took place during the Haa Ḵusteeyí Celebration hosted by the Teslin Tlingit Council.
Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre - July 5th
Reeling
By Henry Frank Kaash Katasse
Directed by Léa Roy Bernatchez
Old Fire Hall - June 20th
Teslin Tlingit Heritage Centre - July 29th
Two young Tlingit women continue learning life's lessons as they fight to pay their final respects to the beloved uncle who raised them.
The July 5th encore reading was a Cultural Presentation at the Adäka Cultural Festival and the July 29th encore reading took place during the Haa Ḵusteeyí Celebration hosted by the Teslin Tlingit Council.
Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre - July 5th
Two Indians
By Falen Johnson
Old Fire Hall - June 20th
Win lives on the rez and Roe lives in the city. After years apart the two cousins meet in a Toronto alley to recreate a ceremony from their childhood, but can they remember how? Has the world changed too much? Have they? When the words missing and murdered, truth and reconciliation, occupation and resistance are everywhere, how do two Mohawk women stand their ground? Two Indians is a darkly comedic look at the landscape of being Indigenous.
Directed by Christine Genier
CREDITS
Featuring Charlene Abraham, Stormy Bradley, Leonard Linklater, Alexandria McKenna, Elyssia Sasaki, Rae Mombourquette, April Rose Jean Schultz, and Friends
Playwright | Henry Frank Kaash Katasse
Playwright | Falen Johnson
Directors | Andrameda Lutchman, Léa Roy Bernatchez, & Christine Genier
Director Mentor | Mary Sloan
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHTS
Henry Frank Kaash Katasse (Tlingit*) (Playwright) is an Alaska Native from the Tlingit clan Tsaagweidí. Katasse is an actor, director, producer, improviser, and playwright who received his Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre Arts from the University of Hawaii, Mānoa in 2008. While in Hawai’i Katasse worked with Kennedy Theatre, Kumu Kahua Theatre, and the Cruel Theatre. In 2008 Katasse moved back to Juneau, Alaska and was first involved with Perseverance Theatre (PT) with the Mainstage production of TheGovernment Inspector. His body of work as an actor also includes world premieres of Alaska Native-themed plays Battles of Fire and Water, Reincarnation of Stories, Cedar House, and Our Voices Will Be Heard. Other mainstage shows include The Skin of our Teeth, Oklahoma!, and Chicago. Frank was also involved with PT’s 2nd Stage as a director/producer of Vashon, and as a performer in Marisol for the University of Alaska, Southeast. In Juneau, Katasse has performed with Theatre in the Rough, Juneau Symphony, and Morally Improv-erished. Katasse is currently the Board President of Juneau-Douglas Little Theatre. Katasse is the proud recipient of the 2015 Von Marie Atchley Excellence in Playwriting Award from Native Voices at the Autry for his short play Reeling. In 2015 Katasse had his play Bear in Stream read at the Leviathan Lab in NYC.
Falen Johnson is Mohawk and Tuscarora from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. She is a writer, producer, dramaturge and actor currently living in Toronto. Her first play Salt Baby has been staged with Native Earth Performing Arts, Planet IndigenUS, The Next Stage Festival, Live Five, The Globe Theatre and has toured across the country. She has worked as a performer, producer, creator, and administrator. She is a former artistic artist for Turtle Gals Performance Ensemble, and Native Earth Performing Arts as well as the former coordinator for the Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance. She is a graduate of George Brown Theatre School and the former playwright in residence at Native Earth Performing Arts and Blyth Festival Theatre. She was nominated by playwright and poet Daniel David Moses as the 2015 recipient of the OAC Emerging Aboriginal Artist Award. Her second play Two Indians was recently debuted at The SummerWorks Performance Festival.
