Drew Hayden Taylor’s Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth, Firehall Arts Centre (280 E. Cordova), Nov. 11 – Dec. 2. Tickets from $20 at firehallartscentre.ca or by calling 604-689-0926. Post-show Talkbacks: Nov. 16, 23 and 30.
Drew Hayden Taylor’s award-winning play about the “Sixties Scoop” phenomenon, Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth, opens on Nov. 11 at the Firehall Arts Centre for an extended run.
The “Sixties Scoop” refers to a horrendous time in Canadian history when Indigenous children were taken from their homes and placed with non-Indigenous families, without the consent of their parents.
Although what was done was not official government policy, child welfare authorities acted in what they thought were “the best interests of the children” at the time. The bureaucratic “scoop” reached its peak in the ’60s but continued for many decades after that in some areas of Canada.
Hayden Taylor’s play, part of a trilogy including Someday and 400 Kilometres, brings the story home to Otter Lake where two sisters separated since childhood must deal with the cultural consequences of the Scoop Up.
Jessie Award winner Columpa Bobb, who starred in the original Firehall production of Only Drunks and Children Tell The Truth in 1997, returns to direct the remount. Now artistic director of the Urban Indigenous Theatre Company in Winnipeg, Bobb took time out from rehearsals to talk about the production with the North Shore News.
North Shore News: It may seem ridiculous to ask the great-granddaughter of Chief Dan George and the daughter of Lee Maracle how she got involved in theatre but I’m going to do it anyway: What drew you to the stage?
Columpa Bobb: I went to a school called Spirit Song. It no longer exists but it was a part of Native Education College. I went to theatre school with my sister and one of my friends and it just stuck. We fell in love with the art form. As you know I come from an artistic family so it wasn’t much of a stretch.
North Shore News: In her writing your mother mentions her talks about storytelling and myth-making with her grandfather, Chief Dan George. Did she pass that knowledge on to you in a similar fashion?
Columpa Bobb: Absolutely. Myth-making was a big part of our lives growing up. We used to play Raven Game and Same but Different, which were ways to conjure stories with the intention of telling somebody the lesson you learned from them. That was definitely something that she did.
North Shore News: Did you grow up in B.C.?
Columpa Bobb: I did. Vancouver born and raised. My mom obviously grew up in North Van but us kids were raised here in Vancouver. My grandma lives on the North Shore and my Tsleil-Waututh family is all there.
North Shore News: Was theatre always what you wanted to do? How did you put that passion for performance into practice?
Columpa Bobb: I’ve never done anything else since I was 16. Right after I graduated from theatre school I did a year-long apprenticeship with the Firehall. That was what really springboarded me into a career. It kind of feels like I’m coming full circle. They arranged a number of different teachers. We had voice coaching, we had mime, we had clown, we had a mentorship in production. I worked under Ingrid Turk on the first couple of Dancing on the Edge festivals. It was a variety of people they called in to teach us and we produced a couple of shows of our own which was part of the apprenticeship, as well. It was a really well-rounded education because we had to do a little bit of every part of theatre, sort of an interdepartmental mentorship which opened my eyes as to how much there was to learn about the theatre.
North Shore News: You seem to be comfortable working on stage or behind the scenes.
Columpa Bobb: Absolutely. I love the production side of things. I stage-managed for a long time as part of an equal part of my career. I love to write. To me it’s about making the art more than where I am in it. Whatever my position – actor or writer or stage manager or what have you – I just love the process of making it.
North Shore News: How are rehearsals going so far with the current production?
Columpa Bobb: I’m loving it. I’ve got a great cast. The thing I like about Drew’s work with these three plays is that you really get a sense of our community and how humour really moves through tension and is indicative of the resilience of our hopes.
North Shore News: Hayden Taylor has said as a young man he may have even been a candidate himself but he was not aware of the “Sixties Scoops.” It was only later when he met people who had been stolen away from their family as children that he realized this was something that had happened. What was your experience as far as awareness of the subject when you were young?
Columpa Bobb: It was always there. It used to be such that instead of calling welfare we would take care of it in our community but once welfare came into the picture it was no longer an option.
If you look back in our recent history once the idea of shutting down residential schools started to gain popularity across the country that’s when the “Scoops” started up.
The process of colonial assimilation didn’t stop. The tactics changed but the strategic end-goal didn’t. We went from residential school to scoop up and now we have more kids in care than at the height of the residential schools.
North Shore News: Did it stop in the ’80s?
Columpa Bobb: Oh no. I remember growing up, I was in Grade 5 or 6 and all the kids were joking about what their mothers made them eat. My mother had a little garden in our backyard but she also picked wild greens like dandelion leaves and stuff and I said, jokingly, “My mom makes me eat grass.” The next day I had to go see a social worker and then I had to do this 12-week after–school program. It was that immediate. It was a joke. All these other kids were joking, just kind of one-upping each other, so in the ’80s it was still very much a legitimate fear. One of my cousins, who lived in a separate apartment but the same house, it seemed like she was being taken away every other month. Once you were in the system you had to be a saint, really. That fear never stops. That fear has never been given a chance to be relieved and now it’s even worse. We live in a different time where everybody can afford a smartphone and everybody has the internet but in the next 10 years we are going to come up with another generation of completely displaced Native kids.
North Shore News: You performed in the original production of Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth at the Firehall didn’t you?
Columpa Bobb: Drew’s a buddy of mine and this one I’ve workshopped from beginning to end. I did the original production in Toronto and then did it out here first on the MainStage and then a few years later we toured it throughout B.C. It’s also one of the first Drew plays I’ve directed. I’ve got so many ties to it, it’s kind of nice to be on the other side of it.
North Shore News: What’s it like being on the other side of the play directing others?
Columpa Bobb: Drew’s plays are all about timing because he likes to infuse comedy into drama. Everybody can do a dramedy but there is a certain kind of timing in Indian country that we have that is very specific to us, just like everybody else has their own specific senses of humour. The playing with the timing of the comedy moving through the drama is really interesting for me to see it coming to life with the cast. I love it. It’s like watching plants grow but faster.
North Shore News: Hayden Taylor throws a lot of humour into situations that on the surface are quite serious. He treats the story almost like Theatre of the Absurd.
Columpa Bobb: It doesn’t feel absurd to me but I can see how it could be received that way. The colonial besiegement hasn’t really stopped so part of our resilience is to laugh to keep from crying sometimes. Some things are authentically funny but the worse things get the more we laugh and it’s kind of because we have to.
North Shore News: Naming one of the characters “Tonto” also brings that humour into play.
Columpa Bobb: Which comes from a little kid not being able to say the word “Toronto.” That’s a major left turn from a well-known stereotype which is kind of delightful and a breath of fresh air.
North Shore News: As artistic director and educator you now have a hand in directing others who wish to follow the same path you have. What do you tell them?
Columpa Bobb: It’s a hard life. It’s hard work. Our work week is six days a week. When you are in rehearsal you get one day off a week and that’s alleviated when you come to show time because you are just doing shows but you are doing nine shows a week here and it’s emotionally draining. I always tell my students there’s an athleticism to what we do. Take care of your health. Emotionally, physically you have to stay in shape. That doesn’t mean you have to be a triathlete but the maintenance of your mind, your body, your spirit is so important because you are your only toolbox as a storyteller, as an actor. Everything you are, everything you have, is everything you have to tell the story. Self-care and work ethic are the two main things that I talk to my students about. It’s kind of fun because two of my former students from Winnipeg are in this show. Ashley Chartrand and Braiden Houle were former members of the Aboriginal Arts Program and youth core members of Urban Indigenous Theatre. Braiden’s graduated from Studio 58 now and Ashley is a student at Studio 58. It’s really nice to have them working as professionals with me in my old stomping grounds of learning. Ashley has done two Drew plays in a row I did 15, 20 years before her so that’s kind of cool.
North Shore News: You’re based in Winnipeg now. What’s the difference between the theatre experience in Winnipeg and the West Coast?
Columpa Bobb: We affectionately call Winnipeg the biggest small town in Canada. Or the biggest Urban Rez because there’s so many Native people there. The one thing that I really like about Winnipeg, and I think it’s partly because of its size and its small town mentality, there’s a cross–pollination that happens throughout different mediums that is pretty consistent and I don’t see happening anywhere else in the country. I spent a decade or so in Toronto before I moved to Winnipeg. Vancouver and Toronto are so much bigger and it’s harder to have access to other art forms but because Winnipeg is a lot smaller, dancers, actors, musicians and writers have access to each other. There’s a very multi–disciplinary vibe to Winnipeg. Everybody does everything. Because you have access to so many art forms it really informs you and the stuff you do. I like to dive into all those pools and Winnipeg is good for that kind of mindset.
