Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium 27

Over the past four years, a group of Elders, language teachers, and language learners of the Simon Fraser University Hul'q'umi'num' Language Academy has worked with University of Victoria theatre faculty and students to learn two stories and redesign them as dramatic art. The plays have been performed to appreciative audiences in Duncan, BC, and now we would like to share the process of how our stories went from page to stage and also perform some excerpts for you.

The theatre work in the Hul'q'umi'num' community started as an applied theatre project learning how to use improvisational theatre to promote language fluency and to learn skills for integrating drama into language classes. As skills levels progressed, two plays were developed through to public performance. We are going to talk about last year's play "hw'ittsus lhqel'ts': Jealous Moon" and how we brought it from an original story written for a class assignment to a theatre production in 30 days. We'll talk about devising the story as a script, developing roles and characters, sets, and costumes, songs. We'll discuss the challenges of performing in a second language and techniques for conveying meaning to an audience that might not be familiar with the language.

Our plays include important life lessons about building one's confidence, persisting, overcoming adversity, and helping others. They verify that our languages are not just an object of study in the classroom but a means of artistic expression. Documenting the event allows us to share the results of our efforts and with the aim to inspire others to create new works. Through participating in this project, we have learned important language skills but also we have experienced improved social, spiritual, and cultural well-being by participating in projects grounded in our identity, heritage, and traditional knowledge.