47: Fire Song (2015) with Wild Woman Theatre
This week, Ashley Bomberry, Cheyenne Scott and Gein Wong of Wild Woman Theatre join us to discuss 2015’s drama “Fire Song” We go in deep talking about the representation of indigenous sexuality on film, finding your place in the world with the gifts that you have, and casting actual Elders in your movie. We also talk Wild Woman theatre’s Summerworks premiering show SPAWN. “"Fire Song” is available on iTunes in Canada and on Netflix in the US.
On this week's show
SPAWN: Theresa is haunted by the traditional Coast Salish story of the Salmon Spirit, and the death of her mother who drowned in the Pacific Ocean. Now that she’s pregnant, her disconnected family must prepare for a new generation.
SPAWN is an Indigenous, multimedia family drama about the struggle to reconnect to family, culture, community, and land.
Originally developed through the Animikiig program at Native Earth Performing Arts with staged readings at Weesageechak 2014 and 2016. SPAWN was workshopped at the rEvolver Festival in Vancouver BC earlier this year. SPAWN will have its Toronto Premiere at the SummerWorks Performance Festival in the Factory Theatre Mainspace August 3rd-13th.
Wild Woman Theatre aims to empower Indigenous women through story and providing artistic opportunities for emerging artists.
For tickets and more information visit the Summerworks website or Wild Woman Theatre on Facebook.
Ashley Bomberry is Mohawk from the Six Nations Territory of the Grand River. Ashley has been working in film and theatre since 2006. She is a writer, producer and director for film and theatre. Her most recent film, Hoop Dance, had its world premiere at the Female Eye Film Festival and she continues to write and create projects within an Indigenous storytelling framework.
Ashley also works as Artistic Producer and Stage Manager for local and international theatre presentations. Ashley focuses on her Indigenous roots and endeavours to impart strength, hope, and healing in Indigenous communities around the world through the arts.
She currently lives in Toronto.
Cheyenne Scott (Coast Salish of the Saanich Nation) is an actor, writer, producer based in Toronto. Her work is an exploration and celebration of her indigenous heritage through impactful personal expression and storytelling. She is an artist in residence with Mikw Chiyam which partners artists with the Cree School Board to bring arts curriculum into the schools. She co-wrote her first piece Zero Visibility as part of the AMY Project and had a full production at SummerWorks 2013. Winner Best New Media Award at the 2014 imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival for her Indigenous Routes interactive poem UHKE. She developed a collaborative spoken word piece Singing River as part of the 2015 PanAm Games Path. Acting Credits include: Children of God (Urban Ink/NAC), Squawk and Sidewalk Chalk (Geordie Productions), Savage (Native Earth) Passion Play (Outside the March/Sheep No Wool/Convergence), Grief Circus (Steady Stat
Gein Wong is an interdisciplinary director, curator, writer and video artist of First Nations and Asian descent. Her works focus on obvious things like gender, class and race, as well as things a little less obvious like gender, class and race. Her more recent works focus on Indigenizing minds and spaces. She is an inaugural member of the TAC Cultural Leaders Lab where she is a part of Revolution City, a project that seeks to centre Indigeneity in the city. Gein has also co-developed this summer’s, “Water is Our Womb”, a water retreat that centres Indigenous water teachings and outdoor artistic creations. She is a recipient of the 2014 Ken McDougall Director’s Award and 2015 CCGSD Canadian Youth Role Model Lifetime Achievement Award. She was a 2012-13 Canadian Stage Director in Residence, a 2013 Harbourfront Centre Resident Artist, a two-time Philadelphia Asian Arts Initiative Resident Artist, the inaugural resident artist at fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre, and collaborated on a New York HERE Arts Centre Residency. Gein is Artistic Director of Eventual Ashes, the community arts organisation, Asian Arts Freedom School, a co-owner of the world’s oldest LGBT bookstore, Glad Day Bookshop. Gein creates large scale performance experiences that empower and elicit empathy. She conceived and directed “Say Their Names, Remember”, a 500 person performance art piece which will open the Ai Weiwei exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario. As well, she co-created “The Forgetful City”, a site specific interactive video installation that reopened the RC Harris Water Filtration Plant in Toronto - an art-deco castle closed to the public for a decade due to 9/11. Her interdisciplinary play “Hiding Words (for you)” premiered at Enwave Theatre, Harbourfront Centre. She was commissioned by World Pride to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots by creating a large scale immersive performance experience to remember and relive Stonewall. Currently, she is developing a play about Ashley Callingbull, Calling Bull; Ocean Carving a performance underwater; and the Indigenous Hip Hop dream play Dreaming 4D.
Shrimpton's Suggested Short
This week's Shrimpton suggested short is Savage by Lisa Jackson.
