≈ 2 hours · No intermission
Last updated: September 10, 2019
I had the good fortune to discover Kevin Loring’s play Where the Blood Mixes for the first time in 2009, when the Teesri Duniya Theatre invited me to take on the role of Mooch (Quêteux in the French version) in their production of the original script. Since then, the characters in this play have become part of me, and for the past eight years I’ve entertained the idea of translating and producing it for a Francophone audience. Thanks to encouragement and solid support from Teesri Duniya, plus inspired accompaniment from Liz Valdez, I’ve been able to translate my dream into reality. With the enthusiastic participation of Musique Nomade, we’ve also been fortunate to add an original soundtrack – a blend of Mi’kmaq, Dene, Atikamekw and Metis voices – to this magnificent project. Là où le sang se mêle is a masterly work that serves as a bridge between a past that society has tried to conceal and a future tinged with bittersweet hope. The characters we meet are people who, like all of us, have only their profound humanity as an anchor point for finding resilience within themselves.
Artists
Kevin Loring is an accomplished Canadian playwright, actor and director and was the winner of the Governor General’s Award for English Language Drama for his outstanding play, Where the Blood Mixes in 2009. The play explores the intergenerational effects of the residential school system. It toured nationally and was presented at the National Arts Centre in 2010, when Loring was serving as the NAC’s Playwright in Residence.
A Nlaka’pamux from the Lytton First Nation in British Columbia, Loring created the Songs of the Land project in 2012 in partnership with five separate organizations in his home community. The project explores 100-year-old audio recordings of songs and stories of the N’lakap’amux People. Loring has written two new plays based on his work with the community including Battle of the Birds, about domestic violence and power abuse, and The Boy Who Was Abandoned, about youth and elder neglect.
A versatile artist and leader Loring has served as the co-curator of the Talking Stick Festival, as Artist in Residence at the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre, as Artistic Director of the Savage Society in Vancouver, as a Documentary Producer of Canyon War: The Untold Story, and as the Project Leader/Creator, and Director of the Songs of the Land project in his home community of Lytton First Nation.
Since his nomination for a Prix Gémeau for hosting the young adult show C’est parti mon tipi, Charles Bender has become a regular presence on Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN). He plays the lead on Sioui-Bacon and was part of the cast of the first season of Mohawk Girls, two popular series on the network. Charles launched his acting career in French in Quebec City, and subsequently studied theatre in English at Concordia University in Montreal. Since graduating, he has appeared in a variety of productions in both English and French, including Destinée, En thérapie and Being Human. On stage, he has worked with a variety of politically and socially active theatre companies such as Teesri Duniya, Ondinnok and Tableau d’Hote, and is currently the co-artistic director of his own theatre company, Productions Menuentakuan. He sits on the board of directors of many organizations that promote Indigenous culture, and hosted the four-part documentary series 8e feu (8th Fire), a Radio-Canada TV series tackling a variety of contemporary First-Nation issues.
Soleil Launière is Pekuakamiulnu from Mashteuiatsh and lives and works in Tiöhtià:ke–Mooniyang (Montréal). A multidisciplinary artist and director, they combine performance art, movement, theatre and song, intertwining the notion of the two-spirited body with experimental audiovisuals while drawing inspiration from the cosmogony and sacred spirit of the animals of the Innu world. Their practice explores themes of silences and universal languages.
Since 2008, Soleil has created several performances for Indigenous and non-Indigenous artistic gatherings and events, both within and outside conventional presenting networks across the continents.
Between 2019 and 2021, they presented their first production, Umanishish, directed by Xavier Huard at Usine C; co-directed (with Patrice Dubois) Courir l’Amérique at the Théâtre de Quat’Sous; presented Sheuetamu, created with the support of the Indigenous Artists in Residence program at the National Theatre School of Canada; and directed Meshtitau, presented at the Festival TransAmériques international dance and theatre festival.
They wrote, co-directed and performed Akuteu, a solo show presented at the Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui from April 21 to May 7, 2022.
In July 2020, Soleil founded their own company, Production AUEN.
Since his nomination for a Prix Gémeau for hosting the young adult show C’est parti mon tipi, Charles Bender has become a regular presence on Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN). He plays the lead on Sioui-Bacon and was part of the cast of the first season of Mohawk Girls, two popular series on the network. Charles launched his acting career in French in Quebec City, and subsequently studied theatre in English at Concordia University in Montreal. Since graduating, he has appeared in a variety of productions in both English and French, including Destinée, En thérapie and Being Human. On stage, he has worked with a variety of politically and socially active theatre companies such as Teesri Duniya, Ondinnok and Tableau d’Hote, and is currently the co-artistic director of his own theatre company, Productions Menuentakuan. He sits on the board of directors of many organizations that promote Indigenous culture, and hosted the four-part documentary series 8e feu (8th Fire), a Radio-Canada TV series tackling a variety of contemporary First-Nation issues.
At the crossroads of theatre, performance and media arts, Émilie Monnet’s work is most often presented in the form of interdisciplinary theatre or performative installations. Her artistic approach favors collaborative and multilingual creative processes, and explores the themes of identity, memory, history and transformation. A committed interdisciplinary artist, in 2011 she founded Onishka Productions in order to forge links between artists from different cultures and disciplines. Artist in Residence at the Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui from 2018 to 2021, she is now the artist in residence at Espace GO for the next three years.
Most recently, she presented her play Okinum at the Centaur Theater and at the National Arts Centre, and her new creation Marguerite: le feu will be produced next spring. Émilie is Algonquin/French and currently lives between the Outaouais and Tiohtià: ke / Mooniyaang / Montréal.
