Indigenous theatre production takes the stage at Magnus Theatre in Thunder Bay
By Rick Garrick
THUNDER BAY — Audiences are enjoying Magnus Theatre’s production of Indigenous playwright Falen Johnson’s Two Indians play about two cousins reuniting in the city after a family tragedy, which runs from Jan. 25-Feb. 10 in Thunder Bay.
“I enjoyed the play, it brought to light some of the stuff, being [from] a First Nation, that’s going on today,” says Sheryl Singleton, a Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishinaabek citizen, noting that boil water advisories were brought up in the play, which her community has had. “We always had to have bottled water delivered to our houses every day.”
Betty Kennedy, a former executive director at Ontario Native Women’s Association and former city councillor in Thunder Bay, says the play was excellent.
“I thought it was very good, excellent,” Kennedy says. “It just spoke to the struggles between our people on-reserve and off-reserve. For me, it really spoke to the issue of family and how important that is, and that no matter what happens, you have to always go back to your family or be with your family.”
Directed by Natalie Robitaille, the play features Indigenous multidisciplinary artist Danelle Charette as Win and Straits Salish of the Saanich Nation/Norwegian actor, playwright and creative producer Cheyenne Scott as Roe.
“It’s about survivor’s guilt, the people who stayed, and the challenges Indigenous people still face,” Robitaille says. “It’s also a really lovely story in that it’s about a broken family, and can you fix it after it’s been broken.”
Robitaille says the play is set in an alley in the city three years after a tragic accident within the cousins’ family.
“They haven’t spoken in three years so it’s all about the dynamic of finding that cousin you spent your whole life with and you were best friends but then something happens and you don’t speak for three years,” Robitaille says. “It’s all about these two Indigenous women, one who stayed on the reserve and the other one who kind of fled to the city, if they can find each other again.”
Charette says she was excited to be back at Magnus to perform another of Johnson’s plays on the Mainstage after previously performing in Johnson’s play Salt Baby at Magnus in 2022.
“Falen’s just so wonderful at writing conversation,” Charette says. “She uses a lot of humour to pack a punch at the same time.”
Charette says her character Win is the cousin who lives on the reserve and is visiting with Roe in the city.
“Win is a fun character, she’s quite feisty but she’s loving, she loves hard,” Charette says. “I don’t think that I feel that Roe’s experiences are matched up to what I (Win) experienced on the rez.”
Charette says she has been singing, dancing, and acting since she was three-years-old.
“It’s been a huge part of my cultural upbringing as well so I’m like, ‘How can I do this forever and ever and hopefully get paid for it?’,” Charette says. “I decided to go to theatre school in Toronto and since then, I have just stayed there and worked professionally.”
Charette says the theatre, which has a newly renovated lobby, box office, and bar and an expansion to the production shops and a new 125-seat studio stage under construction, is beautiful.
“It is kind of unmatched to any theatre I’ve worked in thus far,” Charette says. “It’s going to be great for the performers that come after us.”
Scott says she was excited to be making her debut at Magnus in Johnson’s play.
“Falen Johnson’s words and storytelling are meaningful because she’s telling important Indigenous stories from across the land that resonate,” Scott says.
Tickets are available through the Magnus Theatre Box Office at 807-345-5552 or online at: magnustheatre.com.