A multi-disciplinary Dark comedy about the Northern Gateway Pipeline, Bears asks what the hell it is we’re doing here in Wild Rose Country.
The prime suspect in a workplace accident, Floyd has to get out of town fast. Pursued by the RCMP, he heads through the Rockies for Burnaby, B.C, along the route of the Northern Gateway Pipeline. By the time he reaches the Pacific, Floyd has experienced changes – his gait widening, his muscles bulging, his sense of smell heightening…
Bears by Matthew MacKenzie was first presented in Edmonton in 2015 with Alberta Aboriginal Performing Arts. A politically conscious production, the show attracted some of Alberta’s more liberally minded politicians to its Pyretic Productions’ premiere in Edmonton in 2015, including Mayor Don Iveson along with his wife Sarah Chan, MLA Sarah Hoffman, and MP Linda Duncan. The production sparked discussion with the First Nations community, environmentalists, and the politically minded in regards to the pipeline. Bears was nominated for five Sterling nominations, and won in two categories including Outstanding Musical Score/Sound Design and Outstanding Choreography.
**Outstanding Musical Score/Sound Design – Elizabeth Sterling Haynes
Award**
**Outstanding Choreography Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award **
“It’s rare enough to find original theatre that is so definably of this place.
Theatre that harnesses the divergent resources of multi-disciplinary artists so
creatively to mount an argument is rarer still. You can’t really afford to miss
Bears.”
— Liz Nicholls, Edmonton Journal“I’d never seen a play that speaks to issues facing Canada’s Indigenous peoples as effectively and beautifully as Bears does.”
– Jerry Saddleback, Cree Elder and Dean of Cultural Studies at Maskwacîs College
Congratulations to playwright Matthew MacKenzie for the national tour of Bears, being produced by Punctuate Theatre and Alberta Aboriginal Performing Arts.
For more information on their tour dates and locations, visit the Punctuate Theatre website.
