Your Dream Was Mine at Artword Theatre

BackTo Artword 2004-2005 season list

Artword Theatre,75 Portland St, Toronto
April 20 to May 8, 2005
Finding Your Voice and The Pookster Productions, in association with Native Earth Performing Arts present
Your Dream Was Mine

a magical comedy about love and death written and performed by Shirley Cheechoo and Greta Cheechoo
with Gregory Odjig as the Woodpecker
directed by Kate Lushington

Previews April 20, $10 at door
April 21 -May 8: Tues-Thur 8 pm, $18; Fri-Sat 8 pm $25, Sundays 2:30 pm PWYC,
To reserve: 416-366-7723 ext 290 (St Lawrence Centre Ticket Line) or book online

Two Cree sisters crash their car in Northern Ontario on the way to the younger one's wedding. Led astray by a mysterious Woodpecker (Gregory Odjig), they are forced to confront their secrets and estrangement. Your Dream Was Mine played to great acclaim outdoors last summer at De-ba-jeh-muh-jig Theatre on Manitoulin Island, but this time the sisters realize their dream of performing in it themselves.
Kate Lushington directs, sets by Astrid Janson, lights by Chris Clifford, with costumes by Bill Shawanda and haunting original music by Leland Bell, both from the Island.
Finding Your Voice and The Pookster Productions in association with Native Earth Performing Arts are delighted to present the Toronto premiere of Your Dream Was Mine, written and performed by Shirley Cheechoo and Greta Cheechoo and directed by Kate Lushington, with Gregory Odjig as the Woodpecker. This semi-autobiographical magical comedy featuring real life sisters as estranged sisters in the play, previews April 20, opens Thursday April 21 and runs to May 8 at Artword Theatre.
Your Dream Was Mine is the story of two Cree sisters who crash their car in Northern Ontario on the way to the younger one’s wedding. They hike deeper into the bush, led astray by a mysterious Woodpecker who forces them to reexamine their secrets and their sisterhood. At once hilarious and touching, their ongoing patterns of rivalry and betrayal are transformed by the deepening magic of the Woodpecker.
For this semi-autobiographical play, veteran actress, writer and film maker Shirley Cheechoo teams up with her younger sister Greta to explore the childhood they shared, as well as the one they did not after Shirley was removed to residential school. Your Dream Was Mine played last summer to great acclaim at De-ba-jeh-muh-jig Theatre on Manitoulin Island, but this is the first time the playwrights have realized their dream of performing in it themselves.
Shirley Cheechoo is an award-winning actress, writer, producer, director and visual artist. She is the founder of De-ba-jeh-muh-jig Theatre on Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve on Manitoulin Island, well–known for originating Tomson Highway’s The Rez Sisters. Shirley self-produced her own play Path With No Moccasins which first toured in 1992, followed by Tangled Sheets in 1994. In 1999 Shirley wrote, directed, co-produced and starred in Bearwalker, the first aboriginal-produced feature film in Canada. Bearwalker opened the Reel World Film Festival in Toronto in 2000, winning the award for Best Director. It was later seen at the Reel Island Film Festival, going on to win awards for Best Film and Best Actress at the San Francisco Film Festival. It was the Official Selection-American Spectrum at the Sundance Film Festival, was voted third most popular film at the Vancouver International Film Festival and received honorary mention at the Lake Placid Film Festival. A 2003 graduate of the Canadian Film Centre, Shirley’s short dramas have been featured at the Sundance Festival and she has made several documentaries about the James Bay Cree.
Greta Cheechoo workshopped the original Rez Sisters by Tomson Highway. At De-bah-jeh-muh-jig Theatre, she played Grandmother in Snowshoe Moon by Amie Lynn Ominka and Koosmaan in Lost Warrior by Darrel Manitowabi. She was featured in her sister Shirley’s film Bearwalker. Gregory Odjig began his career at De-bah-jeh-muh-jig Theatre and has since worked at Magnus Theatre, Manitoba Theatre for Young People, Native Earth, Karen Jamieson Dance Co, Dance Arts Vancouver and the Stratford Festival. Film credits include Seventh Generation and Exhibit A for APTN, Farewel for CBC-TV and the award-winning short Bloodriver.
Kate Lushington directed Your Dream Was Mine last summer at De-ba-jeh-muh-jig Theatre, almost exactly ten years after directing Shirley Cheechoo’s last play, Tangled Sheets, for West Bay Action for the Arts on Manitoulin Island. Other more recent Toronto credits include The Triple Truth for Turtle Gals Performance Ensemble at Mayworks and Warm Air Cold Truth for Centre For Indigenous Theatre. Artistic Director of Nightwood Theatre for six seasons, Lushington is returning to directing after a hiatus for dramaturgy (Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God and Harlem Duet by Djanet Sears, among others) and filmmaking (Subway Transfer which won the Mouche d’Or at On the Fly Festival 4 in Toronto and was shown nationally on CBC-TV). Lushington also won a National Radio Award for adapting Josef Skvorecky’s The Bass Saxophone for CBC Radio.

		Artword Theatre,75 Portland St, Toronto April 20 to May 8, 2005 Finding Your Voice and The Pookster Productions, in association with Native Earth Performing Arts present *Your Dream Was Mine* a magical comedy about love and death written and performed by Shirley Cheechoo and Greta Cheechoo with Gregory Odjig as the Woodpecker directed by Kate Lushington
	Previews April 20, $10 at door April 21 -May 8: Tues-Thur 8 pm, $18; Fri-Sat 8 pm $25, Sundays 2:30 pm PWYC, To reserve: 416-366-7723 ext 290 (St Lawrence Centre Ticket Line) or book online
	Two Cree sisters crash their car in Northern Ontario on the way to the younger one's wedding. Led astray by a mysterious Woodpecker (Gregory Odjig), they are forced to confront their secrets and estrangement. Your Dream Was Mine played to great acclaim outdoors last summer at De-ba-jeh-muh-jig Theatre on Manitoulin Island, but this time the sisters realize their dream of performing in it themselves. Kate Lushington directs, sets by Astrid Janson, lights by Chris Clifford, with costumes by Bill Shawanda and haunting original music by Leland Bell, both from the Island. Finding Your Voice and The Pookster Productions in association with Native Earth Performing Arts are delighted to present the Toronto premiere of *Your Dream Was Mine, written and performed by Shirley Cheechoo* and Greta Cheechoo and directed by Kate Lushington, with Gregory Odjig as the Woodpecker. This semi-autobiographical magical comedy featuring real life sisters as estranged sisters in the play, previews April 20, opens Thursday April 21 and runs to May 8 at Artword Theatre. *Your Dream Was Mine* is the story of two Cree sisters who crash their car in Northern Ontario on the way to the younger one’s wedding. They hike deeper into the bush, led astray by a mysterious Woodpecker who forces them to reexamine their secrets and their sisterhood. At once hilarious and touching, their ongoing patterns of rivalry and betrayal are transformed by the deepening magic of the Woodpecker. For this semi-autobiographical play, veteran actress, writer and film maker Shirley Cheechoo teams up with her younger sister Greta to explore the childhood they shared, as well as the one they did not after Shirley was removed to residential school. Your Dream Was Mine played last summer to great acclaim at De-ba-jeh-muh-jig Theatre on Manitoulin Island, but this is the first time the playwrights have realized their dream of performing in it themselves. Shirley Cheechoo is an award-winning actress, writer, producer, director and visual artist. She is the founder of De-ba-jeh-muh-jig Theatre on Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve on Manitoulin Island, well–known for originating Tomson Highway’s The Rez Sisters. Shirley self-produced her own play Path With No Moccasins which first toured in 1992, followed by Tangled Sheets in 1994. In 1999 Shirley wrote, directed, co-produced and starred in Bearwalker, the first aboriginal-produced feature film in Canada. Bearwalker opened the Reel World Film Festival in Toronto in 2000, winning the award for Best Director. It was later seen at the Reel Island Film Festival, going on to win awards for Best Film and Best Actress at the San Francisco Film Festival. It was the Official Selection-American Spectrum at the Sundance Film Festival, was voted third most popular film at the Vancouver International Film Festival and received honorary mention at the Lake Placid Film Festival. A 2003 graduate of the Canadian Film Centre, Shirley’s short dramas have been featured at the Sundance Festival and she has made several documentaries about the James Bay Cree. Greta Cheechoo workshopped the original Rez Sisters by Tomson Highway. At De-bah-jeh-muh-jig Theatre, she played Grandmother in Snowshoe Moon by Amie Lynn Ominka and Koosmaan in Lost Warrior by Darrel Manitowabi. She was featured in her sister Shirley’s film Bearwalker. Gregory Odjig began his career at De-bah-jeh-muh-jig Theatre and has since worked at Magnus Theatre, Manitoba Theatre for Young People, Native Earth, Karen Jamieson Dance Co, Dance Arts Vancouver and the Stratford Festival. Film credits include Seventh Generation and Exhibit A for APTN, Farewel for CBC-TV and the award-winning short Bloodriver. Kate Lushington directed *Your Dream Was Mine* last summer at De-ba-jeh-muh-jig Theatre, almost exactly ten years after directing Shirley Cheechoo’s last play, Tangled Sheets, for West Bay Action for the Arts on Manitoulin Island. Other more recent Toronto credits include The Triple Truth for Turtle Gals Performance Ensemble at Mayworks and Warm Air Cold Truth for Centre For Indigenous Theatre. Artistic Director of Nightwood Theatre for six seasons, Lushington is returning to directing after a hiatus for dramaturgy (Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God and Harlem Duet by Djanet Sears, among others) and filmmaking (Subway Transfer which won the Mouche d’Or at On the Fly Festival 4 in Toronto and was shown nationally on CBC-TV). Lushington also won a National Radio Award for adapting Josef Skvorecky’s The Bass Saxophone for CBC Radio.