Between May 29th and June 2nd, 2022, Gwaandak Theatre gathered a group of six artists to participate in a devised theatre residency to create the groundwork for Fire Show, our new development project. Participants were led by Ming Hudson over five days as they created initial concept performances, poems, and writings. Gwaandak Staff, Colin Wolf and James Croken, archived the work developed during this time for the purpose of future reference. This collection of artists currently forms the "Fire Show Collective" and will continue to work on the project over the next phases of development, dependant on their availability as well as funding.

As part of the inital project development, participants were able to go on a field trip to the Yukon Government’s Protective Services Wildland Fire Management Warehouse. Mike and Hayley showed us around, let us try on some gear, and really gave us an idea of newer approaches to fire management.

During Awaken Festival 2022, we hosted a Fire Show community circle to hear some community perspectives about forest fires. Gwaandak intends to do another round of consultations and interviews for project source material before we firm up our performance details.

Gwaandak was able to engage in the initial development of Fire Show without specific project funding. We are grateful to our operational funders: The Yukon Government and The Canada Council for the Arts. We are also thankful to the participants, Ming Hudson, the Gwaandak Staff and Board, and the Yukon Government’s Protective Services Wildland Fire Management Warehouse staff, including Mike and Hayley. We are really looking forward to where these artists take this project next!