Qwalena: The Wild Woman Who Steals Children addresses the ongoing impacts of the Indian Act
The titular character in the show by 3 Crows Productions represents government agents who removed Indigenous kids from their homes to attend residential school
Qwalena: The Wild Woman Who Steals Children.
Qwalena: The Wild Woman Who Steals Children is presented by Touchstone Theatre and Zee Zee Theatre at the Cultch’s Historic Theatre on September 21; by Chilliwack Cultural Centre at HUB Theatre on September 24; and by the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts September 26 and 27 at the Studio Theatre
WITH CAMPAIGNS LIKE Orange Shirt Day, there’s more public awareness of Indian residential schools than in years past—but according to Dallas Yellowfly, there is still a widespread lack of understanding and information around the Indian Act, which remains in effect to this day. A member of the Siksika First Nation, Yellowfly is using the power of live performance and truth-based storytelling to bridge that gap.
Yellowfly is the founder of 3 Crows Productions and the creator of Qwalena: The Wild Woman Who Steals Children, which is about to have a suite of performances in Vancouver and Chilliwack. The multimedia production fuses film, still imagery, audio, and lighting with traditional oral storytelling and an allegorical creature named Qwalena who steals children who dare enter the forest to find her. Yellowfly artistically uses Qwalena to represent the Indian agents who stole Indigenous children from their families and forced them into government-funded residential schools. Yellowfly’s own father was one of those kids.
“The focus is on decolonization and the Indigenization of education, filling in the gaps of misunderstanding for non-Indigenous people, especially about the impacts of the Indian Act,” Yellowfly says in an interview with Stir. “We’re finding that adults and youth are learning during these performances. The show has developed from something that started in classrooms to now being a full-scale production that has been performed in arenas with thousands of people in the audience. The intention has been the same from the beginning: to create understanding where there wasn’t any.
“I don’t think enough people understand that residential schools are just one part of a gigantic genocidal machine that’s delivering so much devastation even today; the larger machine is the Indian Act,” says Yellowfly, a former youth care worker who’s also a musician and stand-up comedian. “It may not be the same as it was in 1876, but it has been built on genocidal ideologies, and the impact has left immeasurable devastation to our communities to this day. We have traumas in our homes, in our living rooms.”
The role of Qwalena is performed by Alysha Collie, a Coast Salish multidisciplinary artist from the Soowahlie First Nation mixed with European settler and African ancestry. Collie says the show illustrates how systemic racism continues when there is a governing document that disadvantages an entire population. “If you’re not uncomfortable, you’re not learning,” she says. “Unfortunately, we all need to get a little uncomfortable together in order to learn and create empathy in our communities. The more that we understand each other, the less racism builds in our communities. There are intergenerational effects felt by our peoples and we want to share information in a way that everyone can understand, from youth to adults, knowing how colonial institutions have affected what our daily lives look like today.”
Qwalena’s mask was carved by Squamish Nation artist Xwalacktun (Rick Harry). Collie and Yellowfly emphasize that the show is not meant for children under age 13, for whom it would be scary. There are potential triggers around physical, sexual, and domestic abuse; drug and alcohol abuse; residential schools; and homicide. (The production also uses strobe lights and a fog machine and has loud sounds.)
The performances are unique to each venue. Working as the Indigenous community-engagement manager at Zee Zee Theatre, Collie notes that there are special events before and after the performance on September 21 at The Cultch. Starting at 6:30 pm, there will be an Indigenous artisan market with three vendors: Collie, who will be selling prints and beadwork from her Collie Collective line; Renovatio Creative Co’s Vanessa Webster, who’s of Nuxalk and Cayuga ancestry, with accessories and apparel; and Dreamt Delusion’s Zoe Bradburn, who’s Plains Cree, with ceramic art. Lola Whyte, who is a queer Plains Cree and Italian singer, also known as Woman Who Sings With the Clouds, will be performing. After the show, Earnest Ice Cream will be on-site serving up ice cream paired with Saskatoon-berry and sage jam, plus there will be cinnamon-sugar bannock available from the Bannock Queen. Audience members will be able to meet and talk to Yellowfly and Collie.
Partial proceeds from The Cultch performance will be going to five organizations: Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre Society, Aboriginal Mother Centre Society, Urban Native Youth Association, Greater Vancouver Native Cultural Society Two-Spirit Organization, and Kílala Lelum Urban Indigenous Health and Healing Cooperative. These organizations support healing initiatives for the multi-generations that have been affected by the residential school system and those still experiencing the ongoing impacts from the Indian Act. 
Related Articles
