Saint John’s Atlantic Repertory Company returns for a sixth season with Drew Hayden Taylor’s play, Cottagers and Indians.
The Atlantic Repertory Theatre will be back on stage at the cozy BMO Theatre in February to open its sixth season with Drew Hadyen Taylor’s play Cottagers and Indians.
Set in the Kawartha Lakes region of Central Ontario, Cottagers and Indians explorers the confrontations between environmentalism and consumerism when a disagreement over wild rice harvesting gives way to a larger discussion on equity, colonization, and Indigenous rights.
The play was inspired by real events. At the time, local media dubbed it the “Wild Rice Wars,” and it pitted waterfront residents against local First Nations over the proliferation of wild rice beds on the lake. A Curve Lake First Nation man had been harvesting manoomin (wild rice) from Pigeon Lake for years, but residents argued that his harvesting methods were interfering with their enjoyment of their waterfront properties.
Tickets are on sale now.