Theatre enthusiasts meet the playwright, Drew Hayden Taylor
By Rick Garrick
THUNDER BAY — Curve Lake First Nation writer Drew Hayden Taylor met with theatre enthusiasts at Confederation College and Magnus Theatre during the beginning of his play On Thin Ice’s Feb. 12-28 run at Magnus in Thunder Bay. Taylor met and spoke with the theatre enthusiasts during Confederation’s An Exclusive Conversation with Drew Hayden Taylor event on Feb. 12 and Magnus’ Meet the Playwright: An Hour with Drew Hayden Taylor event on Feb. 13.
“My very first writing credit of anything in my life was an episode of a show called The Beachcombers,” Taylor says during the Meet the Playwright event. “I was 25 and then from there, I went and did North of 60, I did Street Legal, and a couple of other things here and there — that was my beginning as a writer. So, I went from television and then I went to theatre because at that time Tomson Highway was one of the most well-known Canadian playwrights, not just Indigenous playwrights.”
Taylor says he has also written novels, short stories, non-fiction, documentaries, and a graphic novel in addition to working in television and theatre.
“And I’ve never taken a writing course in my life,” Taylor says, recalling the time when his play Someday was playing at the Centaur Theatre in Montreal and he and his mother were reading the reviews and publicity about his play. “She looks up at me and she just sort of says, ‘Where did this come from?’ meaning me as a playwright. And I looked at her, and I still to this day say, I have no idea. It’s not something I was trained for, in fact as I said, it was discouraged, and my grandparents actually chastised my mother saying, ‘Why do you let him read so much? It’s not normal.’”
Fort William First Nation Chief Michele Solomon appreciated the opportunity to hear from Taylor during the An Exclusive Conversation event at Confederation’s Dibaajimogamig Lecture Theatre.
“It was wonderful to have an opportunity to hear about his work,” Chief Solomon says. “Last night’s [performance of On Thin Ice] was the first play of his that I have attended and it wasn’t what I expected, so to hear more from him about his work, it made it make sense to me. I appreciated having the opportunity to hear from him on how he tries to give that different perspective of Indigenous people, rather than the trauma, coming from a place of our resilience and our strength and our humour.”
Vinetta Strombergs, director of On Thin Ice at Magnus Theatre, says On Thin Ice is a brand-new play by Taylor.
“This is the first time he’s written this genre of theatre, mostly, he’s known for all his comedies,” Strombergs says. “He’s written a lot of plays, a lot of novels, a lot of short stories, so this was a new direction for him to go. It’s been kind of a combination workshop rehearsal together up on stage because it’s a brand-new script, but I hope the audience likes the journey they go on.”
Strombergs says enjoyed working on the play with Taylor.
“I’ve known Drew since his first play, we are old pals, we have a great deal of fun together,” Strombergs says. “He’s a great friend and a great storyteller.”
Joyce Spence says she enjoyed meeting Taylor during the Meet the Playwright event.
“I enjoy a play, especially with an Indigenous perspective and some of the comments that were in the play,” Spence says. “It really spoke volumes and hopefully it was received by the audience.”
Spence adds that theatre is an avenue that youth could explore, noting that her daughter took up drama in high school and is now working in the film industry.
“When she got introduced to drama in high school, I found that it just did a big turnaround in her life, especially the support she got from her teachers,” Spence says. “It gave her a voice inside that came out and now she’s in the film industry, she works for imagineNATIVE, she [directed] some movies. It just opened her right up and gave her a voice that gave her strength.”