INNER ELDER Makes Toronto Premiere

Nightwood Theatre and Native Earth Performing Arts are thrilled to present the Toronto premiere of the critically acclaimed touring production of Inner Elder. Written and performed by Gemini award-winning Cree Artist Michelle Thrush and directed by Karen Hines, Inner Elder premiered at One Yellow Rabbit's High Performance Rodeo in 2018 to standing ovations and sold-out houses. Thrush won the 2018 Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding Performance and the play was nominated for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Production. Inner Elder runs from May 8-12, 2019 for six performances only at Aki Studio.

Inner Elder takes the audience back to Thrush's childhood in 1970's Calgary. Through a journey of transformation, laughter and real-life memories, Thrush explores her own inner elder. Following a young Indigenous girl navigating a world of alcoholic adults, aliens, and the spiritual presence of her guiding grandmothers, we witness her transform into a mischievous spry old woman. A delicate blend of Bouffon and Indigenous clowning lend this powerful, humorous production a heightened effect, as we get an extraordinary vision of our world.

The acclaimed Calgary-based Cree artist and activist, Michelle Thrush has over 40 professional credits in film, television and theatre with her first film role at the age of seventeen. She is best known for her role in CBC's North of 60 and Arctic Air, Sky TV's newest series Tin Star, and APTN's hit Blackstone for which she won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role. Her theatre involvement includes being one of the founding members, co-director, and actor in the ground-breaking theatrical extravaganza Making Treaty 7, and directing for Theatre Calgary's 2018 Season opener Honour Beat by Tara Beagan.

Karen Hines is a Dora Award-winning director and performer, and a two-time finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for Drama (The Pochsy Plays; Drama: Pilot Episode). Previous directing credits include all of adult horror clowns Mump & Smoot's shows, as well as world premieres of Linda Griffith's, including Age of Arousal (Alberta Theatre Projects). Karen has performed extensively in Canadian stage, television and film, including three seasons on CBC's Emmy Award-winning Newsroom and her own prize-winning short films featuring her dark stage persona 'Pochsy' has screened internationally. She has written seven award-winning plays, and her recent solo Crawlspace enjoyed sold out runs from Toronto (Videofag, Soulpepper) to Vancouver (Boca del Lupo), and is being adapted through Telefilm as a feature film.

Tickets: $25-$30

Available online at nativeearth.ca, or by phone at 416.531.1402