≈ 3 hours · With intermission
Last updated: September 6, 2019
Message from the Artistic Directors
Welcome to the first ever production of the NAC Indigenous Theatre department!
It has been an honour to partner with our friends in English Theatre to bring you Marie Clements’ The Unnatural and Accidental Women, directed by Muriel Miguel. We are so excited to be able to offer this play as the opening production of the Mòshkamo Indigenous Arts Festival, that celebrates the inaugural season of NAC Indigenous Theatre. Marie’s work has been an enormous influence on my art practice, as an actor, writer and creator of theatre. With the completion of the National Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls, it is fitting that a play that wrestles so poetically with this national tragedy be our season opener.
This season of Indigenous Theatre celebrates the strength, resilience and beauty of Indigenous women; it is therefore also fitting that our Indigenous Theatre matriarch Muriel Miguel leads us into this powerful story of resilience in the face of horror.
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All of us in the NAC’s English Theatre are so proud to partner with Kevin and the Indigenous Theatre team to bring this incredible work to the stage. Those of you who have loved Marie Clement’s previous NAC productions – Copper Thunderbird, Burning Vision and The Edward Curtis Project – won’t be disappointed with this impactful, inventive and important work.
Congratulations to our friends in Indigenous Theatre as they launch a whole new vision for the NAC, and welcome back to a great season of theatre to all of you.
Message from the Director
I am so honoured to have been asked to direct The Unnatural and Accidental Women, the very first Indigenous production from the Indigenous Theatre section of the National Arts Centre. I began my relationship with the amazing Marie Clements and with this play 20 years ago. I was blown away. It hit the mark. It was and is an incredibly important piece of work. It shines a necessary light on the lives of murdered and missing Indigenous women who are our sisters, our mothers, our daughters, our friends. The violence brought upon them is pervasive and it must stop.
I would like to thank this amazing cast for their passion and generosity and for their trust to follow me, even when they might not know where they are going as we navigate this dense and intimate material; our choreographer, composer and design team for their big vision; stage management for keeping things running smoothly; my partner for keeping me together and also the wonderful crew of the NAC. I would most of all like to thank Marie and Artistic Director Kevin Loring for trusting me with this play. Nuedi.
Artists
Muriel Miguel - Director (Kuna/Rappahannock) is a choreographer, director and actor. She is the founder and Artistic Director of Spiderwoman Theater, the longest running Indigenous women’s theater company in North America. Muriel is a 2016 Guggenheim Fellow; awarded an Honorary DFA from Miami University in Ohio; a member of the National Theatre Conference and in 2015 attended the Rauschenberg Residency. She taught at the Centre for Indigenous Theatre and is a pioneer in the development of a culturally based Indigenous performance methodology.
Choreography: Throw Away Kids - Banff Centre's Aboriginal Dance Program.
Director: Murielle Borst Tarrant's More Than Feathers and Beads; The Scrubbing Project - Turtle Gals Performance Ensemble and Evening in Paris - Raven Spirit Dance Company.
Acting: Off-Broadway's Lily’s Revenge; The Rez Sisters and The Unnatural and Accidental Women; One woman shows Hot' N' Soft, Trail of the Otter and Red Mother.
Lecture: Muriel Miguel: A Retrospective.
She facilitates Storyweaving Workshops in universities and communities across the US, Canada and Europe.
Cheri Maracle is a Haudenosaunee/Irish Actress, Singer, Playwright, and Host of the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. She has been performing on stages across Turtle Island and abroad for over 25 years and has many TV, stage, and music credits to her name.
Some selected TV/Film credits include Bones of Crows (CBC), Alaska Daily (CTV), UNSETTLED (APTN, TVO), The Coroner (CBC), The Parker Andersons (Marble Media), Tribal (APTN), DeGrassi (Netflix, Epitome), and Murdoch Mysteries (CBC). Cheri was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Canadian Screen Awards for her role of Sara Bull in the series Blackstone (APTN). Cheri also has numerous stage credits to her name and was nominated for Best Solo Performance for her portrayal of Pauline Johnson in the world premiere of Paddle Song at High Performance Rodeo. She has appeared in selected Theatre pieces: The UNNATURAL & ACCIDENTAL WOMEN (NAC), The Hours That Remain (Theatre Aquarius), Kisaageetin, We Love You (NAC), The Rez Sisters (Belfry Theatre), White Noise (Firehall Theatre), and more…
Cheri has hosted the INDSPIRE AWARDS for Global TV, Planet IndigenUS (Harbourfront Centre), TU Jazz Fest (Ontario Place), Talking Stick Festival Music Night, and Indigenous Music Awards shows, and events across Turtle Island.
Cheri’s musical background began with hand drum music, with the Indigenous Women’s group Tiyoweh. She then penned two original albums, Closer To Home, and If I Am Water, which garnered several nominations in the Indigenous Music Industry. Her third album, Ache of Love, is a jazz compilation, for her forever love of jazz music. Cheri had the privilege of portraying Mildred Bailey at the First Ladies of Jazz concert, at the Celebration of Nations Gathering in St. Catherines. Most recently, Cheri played the Waterloo Jazz Fest and the TU Jazz Fest in Ontario with her Quintet. Cheri’s music can be found on iTunes and Spotify.
Monique Mojica (Guna and Rappahannock nations) Actor/ playwright Monique Mojica is passionately dedicated to a theatrical practice as an act of healing, of reclaiming historical/ cultural memory and of resistance. Spun directly from the family-web of New York’s Spiderwoman Theater, her theatrical practice embraces not only her artistic lineage through mining stories embeded in the body, but also the connection to stories coming through land and place.
Monique’s first play Princess Pocahontas and the Blue Spots was produced in 1990 and is widely taught in curricula internationally. She was a co-founder of Turtle Gals Performance Ensemble with whom she created The Scrubbing Project, the Dora-nominated The Triple Truth and The Only Good Indian. In 2007, she founded Chocolate Woman Collective to develop the play Chocolate Woman Dreams the Milky Way, a performance created by devising a dramaturgy specific to Guna cultural aesthetics, story narrative and literary structure.
Monique has taught Indigenous Theatre in theory, process and practice at the University of Illinois, the Institute of American Indian Arts, McMaster University and is a former co- director of the Centre for Indigenous Theatre. She has lectured on embodied research and taught embodied performance workshops throughout Canada, the U.S., Latin America and Europe.
She was most recently seen onstage in Kaha:wii Dance Theatre’s world premiere of Re-Quickening choreographed by Santee Smith and with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in I Lost My Talk as part of the Life Reflected series.
Upcoming projects include Side Show Freaks & Circus Injuns co-written with Choctaw playwright, LeAnne Howe and directed by Jorge Luis Morejón with an illustrious collaborative team of Indigenous artists from diverse disciplines.
Kelsey Kanatan Wavey (they/them) is a nonbinary multidisciplinary artist currently based in so-called Vancouver. Kelsey was born and raised in Treaty 1, Winnipeg, and is a proud member of Tataskweyak Cree Nation. Kelsey attended Studio 58 to study acting, and has been working as an actor, writer, director, and curator since graduating in 2019. Kelsey is a singer and is working on self-releasing their work with their Indigenous indie pop duo “EVERB0DY”, as well as sings with an all femme drumming group “M’girl”. Some of their recent theatre acting work includes The Rez Sisters, Women of the Fur Trade (MTC) and Break Horizons: a Concert Documentary (Urban Ink and The Cultch). You may have seen their recent directing work in Cerulean Blue (Studio 58) and Gather: Stories in Nature (Neworld and Pacific Theatre).
Andy Moro is the Artistic co-director of ARTICLE11 with Tara Beagan. Their work upholds the 11th Article of the UN’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Selected Theatre Credits: The Unnatural & Accidental Women (NAC); Rise Red River (ARTICLE 11/Theatre Cercle Moliere/Prairie Theatre Exchange); PISUWIN (Atlantic Ballet); Sleuth, Extractionist, Gaslight (Vertigo Theatre); NOMADA (Diana Lopez Soto); F WORD (Downstage/Alberta Theatre Projects); Ministry of Grace, Reckoning, ROOM, Declaration, Deer Woman (ARTICLE11); Little Women, Honour Beat; (Theatre Calgary); Hookman (University of Calgar/Chromatic); The Last Epistle of Tightrope Time (NAC/Neptune Theatre); Post Mistress, Rez Sisters (Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre); Blackhorse (Caravan Theatre); The Herd (Citadel Theatre/Tarragon Theatre); Frozen River (Manitoba Theatre for Young People); Third Colour, Spacegirl, War Being Waged (Prairie Theatre Exchange); Ministry of Grace, Time Stands Still, O’Kosi (MT7); SkyDancers (Anowara Dance); Raven Mother (Dancers of Damelahamid); Finding Wolastoq Voice (Theatre New Brunswick); Blood Water Earth, Blood Tides, The Mush Hole (Kahawi Dance Theatre).
Jeff Harrison is a Vancouver-based, four-time Jessie Award-winning lighting designer for his work on Carousel Theatre’s Pharaoh Serket & the Lost Stone of Fire, Patrick Street Theatre’s Floyd Collins, Pi Theatre’s Blasted and Arts Club’s Hand to God. Other lighting credits include Pi Theatre’s Beautiful Man, Patrick Street Theatre’s Batboy the Musical and The Full Monty, Urban Ink’s Children of God, Arts Club’s Beneath Springhill, and NAC Indigenous Theatre’s The Unnatural and Accidental Women. Jeff is a member of the Associated Designers of Canada (IATSE ADC659).
A sound designer and electronic music composer, Troy recently scored and designed the sound for the new CBC Gem series The Bannocking by Damien Eagle Bear and designed the sound and produced the beats for the audio play Black Fly by Amy Lee Lavoie & Omari Newton. Upcoming, he will be doing the sound design and composition for Blithe Spirit at The Shaw Festival. In addition, Troy has created original music and sound design for over 50 theatrical productions. Highlights include The Lamentable Tragedy of Sal Capone (NAC), The Rez Sisters (Belfry), and Buried Child (NAC/Segal Centre). Select Film/TV credits include sound design and original music for Looking at Edward Curtis (Knowledge Network); MIA (Salmon) (TIFF, VIFF); and sound design for documentary features The Road Forward, That Higher Level, True North - The Rise of Toronto Basketball (NFB); Grey Roads (HOTDOCS 2021). Troy has been nominated for a Soirée Des Masques Award, several Mecca and META Awards, and won the Jessie Richardson Award for Outstanding Sound Design for The Pipeline Project (ITSAZOO/Savage Society).
