The Bootlegger Blues

This new comedy by the author of Toronto at Dreamer's Rock and Education Is Our Right is about love, family, and what to do with too much beer. Set on a reserve, it follows the plight of Martha, a church-going, teetotaling woman who finds herself stuck with 143 cases of beer after a church fundraiser fails. She decides to bootleg the beer, to the horror of her son Andrew, nicknamed Blue, who is a special constable on the reserve. Meanwhile, Andrew has fallen for a young woman he thinks is his cousin, and his sister Marianne is bored with her "Indian Yuppie" husband and finds herself attracted to a handsome dancer at the powwow. The pace is fast and vigorous in this romantic situation comedy.

I've spent too many years explaining who and what I am repeatedly, so as of this moment I officially secede from both races. I plan to start my own separate nation. Because I am half Ojibway and half Caucasian, we will be called the Occasions. And of course, since I'm founding the new nation, I will be a Special Occasion. -- Drew Hayden Taylor

THE STORY: Nobel Prize-winning author Abel Znorko lives as a recluse on a remote island in the Norwegian Seas. For fifteen years, his one friend and soulmate has been Helen, from whom he has been physically separated for the majority of their affai

The history of Aboriginal people in Canada taught in schools and depicted in the media tends to focus on Aboriginal displacement from native lands and the consequent social and cultural disruptions they have endured. Collectively, they are portrayed as passive victims of European colonization and government policy, and, even when well intentioned, these depictions are demeaning and do little to truly represent the role Aboriginal peoples have played in Canadian life. Hidden in Plain Sight adds another dimension to the story, showing the extraordinary contributions Aboriginal peoples have made – and continue to make – to the Canadian experience. From treaties to contemporary arts and literatures, Aboriginal peoples have helped to define Canada and have worked to secure a place of their own making in Canadian culture. For this volume, editors David R. Newhouse, Cora J. Voyageur, and Daniel J.K. Beavon have brought together leading scholars and other impassioned voices, and together, they give full treatment to the Aboriginal contribution to Canada's intellectual, political, economic, social, historic, and cultural landscapes. Included are profiles of several leading figures such as actor Chief Dan George, artist Norval Morrisseau, author Tomson Highway, activist Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, and politician Phil Fontaine, among others. Canada simply would not be what it is today without these contributions. The first of two volumes, Hidden in Plain Sight is key to understanding and appreciating Canadian society and will be essential reading for generations to come.

A highly wrought farce of patrimony among fancy dancers" on the powwow trail. Cast of 3 women and 3 men.

Skip James (1902–1969) was perhaps the most creative and idiosyncratic of all blues musicians. Drawing on hundreds of hours of conversations with James himself, Stephen Calt here paints a dark and unforgettable portrait of a man untroubled by his own murderous inclinations, a man who achieved one moment of transcendent greatness in a life haunted by failure. And in doing so, Calt offers new insights into the nature of the blues, the world in which it thrived, and its fate when that world vanished.

German developers propose a Native theme park for the "Otter Lake Reserve." Cast of 3 women and 3 men.

In these two plays, Taylor delves into the past and speculates about the future as he examines the dilemmas facing young Native Canadians. This is a magical portrayal of a teenage boy who meets two members of his tribe--one from 400 years in the past and one from the future.