As a part of Truth & Reconciliation Week, CFN recently attended Making Treaty 7’s O’KOSI at the Pumphouse Theatre. Director Michelle Thrush’s time-travelling story begins at what is now Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park, east of Calgary, on Sept. 22, 1877, just before the signing of Treaty 7 and ends some two hundred years later in September 2077 in the midst of a dystopian future. “O’KOSI,” a Blackfoot word meaning “in the fall when we gather,” is a visually stunning work of art with an inspiring score that takes the audience through 200 hundred years of history.
A fantastical journey that is also deeply rooted in emotion, the land, and its people, virtually every scene takes place on Sept. 22, but in different years. Throughout, the play revolves around how Indigenous family systems were destroyed and with it the bonds between parent and child, for three generations and what steps can be taken to reclaim this fundamental part of the human experience.
As funny as it is moving, as dream-like as it is grounded, O’KOSI is a truly original work of art, that incorporates dance, poetry, video, music and the spoken word, all of which is channelled through a truly stellar cast of young Blackfoot actors that should not be missed thats plays through October 1st. The incredibly good news is the play should be back next year.
For information on CFN’s Indigenous Education Program visit www.centrefornewcomers.ca/indigenous