In Spirit

photo by Juan Camilo Palacio

a Native Earth Performing Arts production |

“I don’t remember growing up. Not really. Do people remember that? Growing? Only when it hurts, maybe.”

Synopsis

Spring, 1979. A young girl is mere days away from celebrating her birthday. Her dad can’t keep the secret of her gift any longer, so proudly presents her with a new bike – well… new to her. Birthday girl and bike take their debut trip along the nearest paved road. Failing to return for dinner, a makeshift search party finds only the bike, tossed into some bushes at the side of the road. For years,  family and friends imagine their missing girl into adulthood. This play is told from the perspective of the missing girl, her own memory returning for the telling, only in shards.

This story is a fictionalized account inspired by all too many true stories. Through the perspective of one lone girl, it is the tragedy of a peoples systemically abused by an uncaring government, made intimate. This play is a plea that it never happens again.

Native Earth’s featured production is the much-acclaimed In Spirit (formerly Quilchena,) directed by former Artistic Director Tara Beagan. Created by Beagan and the original creative team, In Spirit is a fiercely haunting work. Production Designer Andy Moro returns with a fearsome videoscape along with the sound and lighting he conceived of in the SummerWorks production where “he seared our eyes and ears.” (NOW Magazine, ’07 Top Ten Theatre Artists of the year.) Actor Sera-Lys McArthur (Where the Blood Mixes, CBC’s Arctic Air, Hard Core Logo II) joins Beagan and Moro as the sole performer, rounding out the all-Indigenous creative team. The work will debut at the Talking Stick Festival before returning to the Aki Studio Theatre and Rutas Panamericanas.