Play breathes new life into story of activist Anna Mae Aquash
Monica
Play breathes new life into story of activist Anna Mae Aquash
Last Updated: Friday, May 9, 2008 | 3:16 PM CT Comments3Recommend20
CBC News
A play examining the life and work of 1970s Mi'kmaq activist Anna Mae
Pictou Aquash is raising new questions about her death.
Aquash, a Canadian woman who belonged to the radical American Indian
Movement (AIM), was found dead on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in
South Dakota in 1975.
The play about her, Annie Mae's Movement, was written by Saskatchewan
playwright Yvette Nolan, the artistic director of the Native Earth in
Toronto, and has previously been performed in Toronto and
Peterborough.
But Alanis King, director of a new production at Greystone Theatre in
Regina, says there's a new generation that knows nothing about Aquash
or her fight.
"Its content is very riveting," King told CBC News. "It's a story
that's recreating the life of Anna Mae. And we thought we would stage
it in this city because we've never heard her story come to light
before."
Aquash, just 26 at the time of her death, was a mother of two and had
become a powerful activist for First Nations land rights and control
of education. She'd participated in the 1973 re-occupation at Wounded
Knee and was rising in the male-dominated AIM. The play teases out the
roots of her activism.
"Through the course of each scene we see…people who affected her
throughout her young adult life, all the way to joining AIM and
towards the end of her life," King said.
"She left us too soon," King said, referring to her execution-style
murder.
"At Saskatchewan Native Theatre we always try to create plays about
heroes…This is a story about a strong, strong person and it's even
stronger because she's a woman. She has all the qualities of a typical
warrior. She believed…in us having a voice."
Actress Michelle Thrush plays Annie Mae in the production, opening
Saturday.
'An icon'
"Whenever you think of aboriginal history, you always think about men.
We've got so many male leaders that are highlighted in history and you
don't really think about the women," Thrush said.
"Annie Mae was an icon as far as aboriginal politics. She stood up for
things that were really, really important to us as people."
Actors Glen Gould and Mitchell Poundmaker each play several male
characters.
Since the play was originally written, a man has been convicted in her
murder and another is awaiting trial, but much about the story remains
ambiguous.
There was FBI infiltration of the AIM movement and there are
suggestions that either the FBI, who allowed her to be buried as a
Jane Doe, or the AIM itself could have been involved.
No-one was charged for nearly 30 years, Gould pointed out.
'A lingering question'
"You know there were rumours it could've been AIM, it was rumoured it
could've been the FBI, it could've been the goon squad. … Even still
there's a lingering question whether they got the right guys in
prison."
The theme song of the AIM movement has been resurrected along with
Annie Mae's story, King said. Regina's Young Thunderdrum Group has
learned the piece and will be performing it.
Annie Mae's Movement by the Saskatchewan Native Theatre Co. will be on
stage May 10 to 17 at Greystone Theatre, at the University of
Saskatchewan.
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O'Brien
trial in September?
On May 13, 11:20 am, Monica <yano...@gmail.com> wrote:
> http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2008/05/09/aquash-play.ht...
Monica
I would really like to see the script. She may have changed it to
include the fbi story.