Th’owxiya: A performance of firsts

"Do you know where I can find children to eat’" Th’owxiya asks, looking around the auditorium. Dozens of elementary school children shift in their seats and raise their hands, yelling out, "Right here. Me, me!"

This happens throughout the Thursday morning show of Th’owxiya: The Hungry Feast Dish, an Indigenous children’s play written by Joseph Dandurand and produced by the Theatre and Performance program. Featuring masks, song and dance, the Kwantlen First Nations fable tells the story of Th’owxiya, an old and powerful spirit who catches a mouse stealing from her feast dish.

The crowd of Grade 2 students made for a lively audience, clapping spontaneously during musical interludes, flapping their wings when asked to help the raven Sqeweqs reach the moon and giggling when the two Spa:th (bears) wandered down the aisles sniffing for food.

Performing for young audiences

The matinee was one of six shows added to the regular evening schedule to accommodate the huge demand from schools locally and as far as Brampton. Janelle Rainville, production manager, believes the interest from schools is in part due to an increased curriculum focus on Indigenous storytelling and decolonization. There’s also the novelty of going into a theatre, as opposed to having theatre groups visit a school, which offers a more immersive experience. "There’s so much that children this age are exposed to in digital format, that they’re not really brought up with that live performance," Rainville says. "There’s that electricity in the air, that idea of pretend and play. That’s what I’m most excited about."

Olivia Rossel, who plays Girl Spa:th and was also part of the carpentry and scene painting team, hopes that children come out of the play with more curiosity about Indigenous cultures This will likely be one of the first times that they’ve encountered Indigenous art in this form, where it’s so physical and so bright and colorful and joyous," she says, pointing out how curriculum is often based around trauma. "It’s nice to be able to share how Indigenous children should have grown up and how, although we can’t erase the past, we can share those stories so that they’re not lost."

Performing with a good mind

Throughout the fall term, students involved in all’aspects of the production learned about Coast Salish culture and Indigenous cultures  more broadly. They engaged in a sage ceremony, a blanket exercise, a potlach and spindle whorling - traditions relevant to the performance.

For many students, the most impactful experience was the opportunity to learn from and work with the playwright himself. Dandurand spent a week at Waterloo attending classes, giving a Silversides Theatre Artist Talk and engaging in discussions to help guide the early stages of production.

A big concern for the students was that none of them are Coast Salish or Indigenous. Wanting to make sure they were representing the story and the people well, they asked Dandurand for advice. "His opinion was basically, ’if you’re coming into this production with a good mind, then I can’t see how you’d be doing my play an injustice,’" says Alana Matsuo, who plays the sasquatch Sas’qets. "What I’ve been learning throughout this process is that Indigenous Peoples are so generous with their stories and so generous with their knowledge, and Joseph’s trust in us to put our best work out there has been really positive."

Focusing on sustainability  

Professor Jay Havens, set and props designer, worked closely with Dandurand on the original production of the show back in 2017. When Havens originally suggested Th’owxiya for the fall performance, other faculty members were excited by the idea of a children’s play and eager to do an Indigenous show to support indigenization at Waterloo.

"In this production," Havens says, "our focus has been sustainability." Many of the larger set pieces were built from old palettes as well as plywood leftover from the Humanities Theatre renovation. "When we’re done the production, we have to consider where things are going to go," they add. "And so, because we’re already using recycled items, they’ve got a second life."

Along with audiences donating food as offerings to Th’owixya that is ultimately destined for the Waterloo food bank, the theme of sustainability runs throughout the story, as its cast of woodland creatures and spirits realize the importance of reciprocity and not taking too much from the earth. "I hope that in our collective experience of Th’owxiya," says Dr. Andy Houston, the play’s director, "we might consider why we are always hungry for more, and that perhaps this craving to consume and own is masking a deeper hunger for a healthier relationship with the world."