The University of Wyoming Department of Theatre and Dance continues its 2010-2011
production season with "Ernestine Shuswap Gets Her Trout." Tomson Highway's sly and
dark comedy depicts four First Nations women as they prepare for the 1910 visit of
the Canadian prime minister to their traditional lands.
Directed by Professor of Theatre Rebecca Hilliker, "Ernestine Shuswap Gets Her Trout,"
runs Oct. 26-30 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 31 at 2 p.m. at the Fine Arts Center Studio
Theatre. Tickets cost $14 for the public, $11 for senior citizens and $7 for students.
For tickets and information, call (307) 766-6666 or go online at www.uwyo.edu/finearts.
A post-show discussion will be held in conjunction with the performance Thursday,
Oct. 28.
Drawing directly from the Laurier Memorial, a deposition signed by 14 chiefs of the
Thompson River Valley, "Ernestine Shuswap Gets Her Trout" is a vivid and gripping
examination of the cultural genocide of the Shuswap Nation of British Columbia. Celebrated
playwright and novelist Tomson Highway is widely recognized for his tremendous contribution
to the development of Aboriginal theater in both Canada and around the world. In 1994,
he was inducted into the Order of Canada, the first Aboriginal writer to be so honored.
"'Ernestine Shuswap' is one of the most compelling plays about social issues that
I have seen in a long while," said Hilliker. "It's really a poignant piece, and it
raises issues that we really need to talk about in this country."
Written in the spirit of Coyote, in "Trickster language," the women argue, joke, rant
and grieve together, the hysterically comic spilling over into the unutterably tragic
and back again.
"It's ironic that in the U.S. we talk about other countries needing to own up to cultural
and literal genocide, and the results of colonialism, but we still deny these realities
in our own history," noted Hilliker.
"We think that these conversations are over, but they've never really happened. Plays
like ‘Ernestine' can help to bridge that gap," she added.