“In a
World Created by a Drunken God” made its United States premiere at
Mixed Blood Theater’s “Seconds: A Festival of Readings” on March
15 and 16. The play, written by Canadian playwright, novelist and
filmmaker Drew Hayden Taylor, was nominated for the Governor
General’s Award and was produced in Canada four times since it was
published in 2004.
“This
particular story is a ‘what if’ in my life,” Taylor said. “I grew
up on a reserve with my mother’s family – I’m half Ojibwe. My white
half took off before I was born – I never knew him. So one day, I
thought wouldn’t it be interesting, wouldn’t it be bizarre, if there
was a knock at my door and it was a family member from my father’s
family that I never knew existed or cared about telling me that our
father is dying from chronic renal failure and needs a kidney?”
“In a
World Created by a Drunken God” was directed by Bill Partlan and
starred Jake Waid as Ojibwe character Jason Pierce and Skyler
Nowinski as his white half-brother Harry Dieter. Over the course of
the play, Jason grapples with the dilemma of whether or not he will
give his absent father one of his kidneys. As Harry tries to convince
Jason to give their father the transplant, the two men share stories
about their lives. The play touches on themes of identity, biology
and the complexity of family relationships.
“It’s
basically a discussion about – what are the obligations, if you are
in such a situation?” Taylor said. “Do those few strands of DNA
make you responsible for his life? Or does the fact that he’s a
complete stranger for all intents and purposes mean you have no
obligations? It deals with the moral implications of that.”
As part of
the festival, In a World Created by a Drunken God was put on after
only six days of rehearsal with minimal, set, costume, and lighting
design.
“What
we’re doing now is what I refer to as a showcase production or a
workshop,” the playwright said. “It’s just bare bones production,
basically an opportunity for people to see what it looks like on its
feet.”
“Seconds:
A Festival of Play Readings” features plays that have been produced
at least once before. In addition to “In a World Created by a
Drunken God,” the festival showcased the musical “Cloudlands”
by Octavio Solis and Adam Gwon, “Sheddin’” by Thomas W. Jones, II
and “The Sun Serpent” by Jose Cruz Gonzalez. The festival aims to
introduce these plays to a broader audience, including artistic
directors who may want to make them into full-scale productions in
the future.
According
to a statement by Mixed Blood Theater’s artistic director Jack
Reuler, “so often that world premiere that wasn’t quite done ends
the play’s life after its initial run despite authors who believe
that the best is yet to come. Seconds is our response to that
conundrum: allowing these plays that have had that lone …
production to get that further development, be seen by audiences and
artistic leaders, and get the chance to be tomorrow’s classic.”
Taylor is
interested in sharing his work with American audiences to highlight
the success Native theater has experienced in Canada.
“In
Canada, Native theater is very well-established – it is part of the
mainstream Canadian theater community, whereas in the States, I think
it’s still considered odd, unusual, not really fully understood or
predominant,” Taylor said. “There are many theater companies in
Canada that have the production of one Native play in their mandate.”
The
playwright said that the “contemporary Native theatrical
Renaissance” in Canada began in 1986 with the production of Tomson
Highway’s play “The Rez Sisters.”
“That
basically blew the doors open in the larger Canadian theatrical
community and made it possible for Native people to stand up and tell
their stories,” he said. “It became almost the genre of choice
for expression, because most Native people come from an oral culture,
and theater is using your mind, your body and your voice to tell a
story.”
Taylor
believes that theater is a natural mode of expression for many
Indigenous people because of its link to oral traditions.
“One of
the reasons I think theater is so successful in Canada is that it’s
the next logical progression in oral storytelling,” he said. “I
think it’s just another way of embracing storytelling and taking it
to the next level. We’ve gone from telling stories around the
campfire to telling stories on the stage, the page, and the screen.”
He
believes that the vibrant Native theater movement represents an
evolution in Indigenous modes of storytelling.
“Culture
is constantly evolving – anything that doesn’t evolve stagnates,
dies. So, as Native people, our culture has to evolve and embrace all
the new technologies and all the new ways of expressing and telling
our stories – it’s an organic progression,” Taylor said. “I
remember having a conversation once with a traditional storyteller on
Manitoba Island and she said that we need new stories as much as we
need the old stories.”
Taylor
often doesn’t focus on broad themes or overall take-aways for the
audiences of his plays, but rather focuses on the art of
storytelling.
“My
whole philosophy as a writer is tell an interesting story with
interesting characters that take the audience on an interesting
journey. That is the basis of my entire career,” he said. “When
an audience comes to see my work, I just want them to have a good
time. If it’s a comedy, I want them to laugh and learn to appreciate
the aboriginal sense of humor, because in many cases the dominant
culture seems unaware of Native people in general and the fact that
Native people have a marvelously developed sense of humor.”
Taylor
sees humor as an essential part of what he calls “Indigeneity.”
“I
consider the aboriginal experience to be one that’s a combination of
tragedy and comedy. It’s my firm belief that it’s our sense of humor
that has allowed us to survive 500 years of colonization.”
Aside from
“Seconds: A Festival of Play Readings,” Taylor is currently
working on a musical for the Charlottetown Festival that will merge
science-fiction, fantasy and ecology. In addition to currently
writing several other science-fiction short stories, he is in the
process of editing a book called “Me Artsy,” “about the
aboriginal artistic spirit.”
“It’s a
series of essays by a group of Native artists, everything from
traditional drumming to contemporary installation art, clothing
design, acting and filmmaking,” Taylor said. “They’re writing
about how their aboriginal heritage has influenced the art that
they’re practicing.”
Taylor
anticipates that “Me Artsy” will be published within the coming
year.