By Dana Reynolds

Director, actor say voices of Indigenous women no longer silent

Mar 15, 2017 | 6:00 AM

Seven Indigenous sisters, intertwined, yet struggling in uniquely personal ways, come together in pursuit of a common – albeit unlikely – dream in Tomson Highway’s award winning play, the Rez Sisters. Director Roxanne Dicke and veteran actor Sophie Merasty thought, now more than ever, was the time to showcase Highway’s play and its all-female, and all First Nations cast.

According to Dicke, this is the first time an Indigenous cast has graced the E.A. Rawlinson stage. While the play focuses on the struggles of First Nations women living on the fictional Wasaychigan Hill Indian Reserve, Dicke and veteran actor Sophie Merasty argue it’s the story of us all, as we are one community.

Highway wrote his play in 1986, but both women felt the subject matter particularly poignant even today. Merasty said Highway spoke to her own personal pain, of which she channeled into her character Pelajia Patchnose. She said she learned of violence, and all the trappings of abuse, from a sorely young age; a story so typical of Indigenous women. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, coupled with the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Women, represents to her a national awakening.

“It’s great. It’s about time,” Merasty said. “I think it’s really important we hear the voices of Indigenous women, particularly because our voices had been silenced for so long.”

She said she loved the honest writing, and how Highway could portray his characters as both deeply flawed and resilient at the same time.

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For Dicke, her favourite aspect of Rez Sisters, is the depth and severity of issue explored, but tempered so lovingly through comedy. She echoed the brilliance of Highway’s writing as a clever tool to discuss the heaviness of violence, alcoholism, sexual assault and sexuality with such levity.

“You’re invited to laugh, you’re invited to go along this journey with these incredible women and experience their pathos, but also through humour,” she said.

Merasty, a long-time performer of both the stage and screen, recently moved to Saskatoon from Vancouver, and found the theatre scene awfully quiet. When she heard about an opportunity to perform Rez Sisters in Prince Albert, she was immediately curious and came up for an audition.

“We fell in love with her. Pelajia Patchnose walked in through the door,” Dicke said.

The actor called Patchnose a visionary. As the oldest, and arguably wisest character, she strives to bring language and culture – all the old ways lost to colonialism and residential schools – back to her reserve. said she strives as a performer to do meaningful work she feels a personal connection to.

“I’ve deliberately chosen to deal with issues that have to do with our Aboriginal communities, Indigenous communities and the issues we face,” Merasty said. She added her next production, performed in Toronto, focuses on a mother who lost two children to residential schools and Child and Family Services, but is later reunited.

Dicke explained her constant mission is to tell stories that are both engaging and important. This year, Rez Sisters became that story. As a woman of Métis heritage, she is thankful for the increased opportunities to speak from a First Nations narrative, but realizes the old stereotypes are still quite strong. To this, she pointed to the power of theatre.

“Just in conversation to some regular theatre goers I mentioned ‘oh, do you have your tickets yet?’ [They said] ‘is it for us?’ And I thought, isn’t that interesting? This play is for everybody. If you live here, it’s for you. And if it’s not, you need to ask yourself that question: why do you think it’s not?” Dicke said.

Spark Theatre Company presents Rez Sisters at the E.A. Rawlinson Centre March 23, 24 and 25, with shows beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $32 for adults, and $28 for students and seniors.

Dana.Reynolds@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @danitska