Sheldon Elter finds light against the darkness of residential schools in Children of God
The musical marks a meaningful—and often moving—departure for a Métis actor better known for standup, music, and comedy work
Sheldon Elter.
Children of God. Photo by Emily Cooper
The Cultch and Urban Ink present Children of God at the York Theatre from March 21 to 29
VANCOUVER THEATREGOERS WILL soon witness the stories of Oji-Cree siblings Tom and Julia and their mother Rita, in a beautiful yet heart-wrenching production Children of God. Returning to Vancouver for the first time since 2019, it features a new star in the lead role.
Set to a powerful score by Mattagami First Nation composer Corey Payette—also the writer and director of Children of God—the award-winning musical spans two decades, following 13-year-old Tom at a residential school in Northern Ontario in the 1950s, and revisiting him and his mother in the ’70s as they try to reclaim what was taken from them.
Taking on the part of Tom is Métis actor, writer, standup comic, musician, and director Sheldon Elter—whose experience runs the gamut from comedy TV to ukulele rock band The Be Arthurs.
“It’s really about Tom and his sister, and this longing for his mother to come and save him from the school, and she never comes,” Elter reflects about Children of God in an interview with Stir. “What the children don't know is that she did come and she was denied at the steps of the school many times. They just assumed they were abandoned.”
When tragedy strikes Julia, Tom manages to escape the school and goes on to live an angry and tortured life, Elter explains. But when Tom runs into an old schoolmate decades later, he begins to reckon with the past and his mother, to finally say goodbye to his sister—a moment that turns out to be as moving for audiences as it is for the actor performing.
“It’s so beautiful, watching his mother try to remember for herself too, because they’ve all lost parts of their culture, so they’re doing their best with what they’ve got in order to have ceremony for their daughter and sister,” Elter says. “It’s just a stunning, stunning ending and I keep wondering how I’m going to get through it.”
This will be Elter’s first time cast in Children of God, which premiered at the York Theatre in 2017 and returned in 2019 after touring nationally. “I’ve never seen the show but I’ve been aware of it since its inception,” Elter says. “Corey had been talking to me about it for years, about trying to get me involved, and things just didn’t line up before.”
When the opportunity came to play Tom, Elter called his older sister for advice, in part because the role was such a pivot from his usual comedic work—as in the theatre production Métis Mutt, the APTN show Caution: May Contain Nuts, and the opening act for a hypnotist that was his first foray into comedy. “I said, ‘Should I say yes to this thing? I just don't know if it’s for me.’” She told him, “No, it’s not for you, it’s for other people,” he recounts.
“That was kind of a nice reminder that it’s not my burden to carry. I’m just a vessel to tell a story, to help other people listen to those stories, and to create awareness and discussion.”
Elter says it’s been exciting to dig in and do something different. And humour is still part of the process behind the scenes of Children of God.
“It’s funny because in the group that we’re working with, everyone’s got a great sense of humour,” the actor says. “As Indigenous people, people think of us as stoic, but there’s such a good sense of humour and it’s so needed—you kind of need the light to balance out all the darkness from the content of the show.”
A cast of adults playing children also makes for a unique acting experience, he says. “It’s fun, but my 40-year-old knees don’t enjoy it as much as, say, my spirit does,” Elter says with a laugh. And there’s something about the the innocence of children that puts the character’s experiences into perspective, he adds: “These kids are trying to hang on to the little bits of memory that they have from their homes and their culture.”
Elter says the musical element of the production also helps alleviate some of the weight of the stories. “There’s something about the music that takes some of that heaviness away for you and touches you and makes you feel things in a universal way that's quite powerful,” he says of the songs that mix First Nations traditions with a Broadway feel.
One particular number, in which the mother character, Rita, drums and teaches the children a song, struck a chord with Elter. “She does a similar version at the end of the musical, finally being able to send off her daughter,” Elter notes. “It’s a stunning, stunning number.”
While cast members hail from across the country, Elter says there’s been a quick sense of community backstage.
“A lot of us have connections with our family going to residential schools themselves, and so it’s been incredible to be able to share those stories together,” he explains, “but also to help help our non-Indigenous castmates understand where we come from, and what these things are, and how they affect us today.”
A talkback will be held after each performance to make space for dialogue, questions, and support for both the cast and audience—a staple of the show since its start. The issues addressed in the musical resonate even more for this remount—the first since hundreds of unmarked graves were found at a former residential school in Kamloops and elsewhere across the country. “It sounds pretty intense, but it sounds pretty magical at the same time,” says Elter of the talkback. “It’s going to be really interesting, especially because a fair bit has changed since the last time they did it.”
Following its limited run at the York, Children of God will have a short western tour, starting in Victoria, in partnership with Intrepid Theatre, Pacific Opera, the Farquhar, and the Victoria Native Friendship Centre, and ending in Yellowknife at the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre. 
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