The Guild and Gwaandak theatres are co-producing this latest production, which opens Feb. 11
On the weekend that the Guild and Gwaandak theatres were holding auditions for their co-production The Birds, by playwright Yvette Nolan, the Yukon experienced an earthquake. Jennifer Dawn Bishop, who is a Métis artist from Treaty Six Territory and is directing the play, was in town for casting. When the ground started shaking, she wasn’t too perturbed; she thought it was just heavy trucks passing by. She seems to bring that same chill attitude to directing: she is funny, a self-described “nerd from the prairies,” and undeterred by the odd earthquake.
“It’s been a wild ride, really fun and beautiful,” Bishop says of her first time to “this neck of the woods,” referring to the Yukon. “And cold, but I get that back home, too.”
Bishop’s involvement in the Yukon production of The Birds began with her friendship with Gwaandak Theatre’s artistic director, Colin Wolf, who she worked with last year when his play, Coy Wolf, was being staged at the Gordon Tootosis Nīkānīwin Theatre (GTNT), in Saskatoon, where she worked as artistic director.
When Wolf asked if she would consider directing a community theatre production in Whitehorse, Bishop was transitioning out of her role at GTNT, so she was ready for a new opportunity outside of Saskatchewan. After meeting Brian Fidler, the Guild’s artistic director, she was on board to direct The Birds.
Nolan’s play is an adaptation of Greek playwright Aristophanes’ comedic satire of the same name, which he wrote in 414 BC in Athens. More than two thousand years later, Nolan, who is Saskatchewan-based and Algonquin, adapted the play for modern audiences.
Bishop was first introduced to Nolan’s retelling in 2016, while taking part in the Globe Theatre Regina Conservatory program. As part of the Greek theatre module, she worked with Nolan on her adaptation of The Birds and admired it right away. “I was like, “What is this amazing piece?” It’s so relevant [and] smart, but also a homage to the original.”
“I love the work Yvette does and the way she had made [the play] relevant to contemporary audiences.”
Over 10 years later, the opportunity to direct The Birds really drew Nolan in—as she says, “bringing in that nostalgia, that excitement. It almost felt like full circle.”
Nolan’s play follows a similar plot to Aristophanes’: two middle-aged men abandon society and come across a utopia populated by birds. Despite themselves, the interlopers can’t let go of the world they left behind and they begin to impose it onto the birds.
Nolan modernizes the piece so that the setting reads less ancient Athens and more modern-day Canada. The playwright explores themes relating to “colonialism and land commentary” and “Canadian Indigenous-settler relations,” Bishop says. Nolan also weaves into the play the “positive consensus-based democracy” practised by First Nations, as well as Indigenous Knowledge.
The production has an ensemble cast of 12 actors: Tyra Ashauntie, Autumn Chandler, Jeff Hamilton, Frances Kitson, Alia Krueger, Greg Murdoch, Felix O’Laney, Austin Roe, Josh Schroeder, Emma Seward, Rachel Sherman and Kevin Spofford. Bishop says that, as the director, she has brought her process from “home base … without disrupting the harmony that they have going on.”
“It’s been fun posing questions, thoughts, experiments with the cast and seeing how they adapt to those thoughts and how they build that into their characters,” Bishop says. “It’s really fun that they’re willing to explore and have fun and not be afraid to ask the tough questions, too.”
As with most visiting directors, Bishop’s experience with the local theatre community has been positive.
“I feel very spoiled,” she says. “This is such a vibrant community of artists. Just like, having the chance to meet them last month, individually [during auditions], and also to chat with their designers, I could see that this is a wonderful theatre community that really looks out for each other, has fun together, so you could really feel that in the room.
“I’ve been having fun with the cast and the crew, and I hope they’ve been having a good time, too, because I really take value in community shows, you know? Because that’s what brings a community together.”
When I ask what audiences will take away from The Birds, Bishop feels that it has an optimistic message.
“I think hope, and resurgence of Indigeneity, that there is hope out there, that there are voices, and that there can be change.”
The Birds is running from Feb. 11 to 28 at the Guild Hall. Tickets are available online (purchasing.yukonartscentre.com/Events).
