New Indigenous theatre company presents world premiere of So Damn Proud
Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) writer, director, and company founder Justin Neal strives for authenticity in his stories
Michelle Bardach (left) and Aaron M. Wells star in Holy Crow Arts’ founder Justin Neal’s So Damn Proud. Photo by Caleigh Mayer
Holy Crow Arts presents So Damn Proud at the Annex September 10 to 24.
JUSTIN NEAL, A member of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation), grew up on Bainbridge Island, Washington, where his beloved grandmother had moved as a migrant worker from her North Vancouver village in 1942. She met his Filipino grandfather there and raised five kids; some of Neal’s fondest childhood memories are time spent picking berries with her. As an Indigenous person living just outside of Seattle, Neal had a feeling of never fitting in—something that has stayed with him ever since.
Neal is founder of Holy Crow Arts, a new theatre company born out of his desire to bring his writing projects to life and to address the lack of contemporary, genuine Indigenous characters on stage and screen. Its inaugural theatrical production, So Damn Proud—which has its world premiere this month—combines Squamish cultural practices with contemporary dance. It also explores the idea of having feet in two different worlds and never feeling quite at home in either.
“I have a lot of stories for the stage and the screen that navigate being born into the Indigenous world and brought up in a suburban or urban white-majority environment,” Neal says in a phone interview with Stir. “This feeling of never fitting into the Indigenous or the dominant society has always been a constant, even today.
“My grandmother, who grew up on Squamish reserve, wasn’t allowed to practise her culture,” Neal says. “When she was growing up, she was forced to Catholicize, which is something she did whole-heartedly. By the time she was an adult, she was very god-fearing and devout and went to church every Sunday. She loved the Pope. I’d say my mom somewhere in between, and I’m on a different path.
“So, this story [So Damn Proud] does focus on that—being part of the Indigenous community and then also never feeling sort of comfortable in Western European, or, for me, the American context,” he says. “I never felt comfortable in either world, and that’s really what it’s about. And it does focus on what it means to be Indigenous in today’s world.”
Justin Neal. Photo by Kristine Cofsky
Writing is Neal’s first love. He earned a Joint Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Theatre from UBC in 2015. He coproduced UBC’s Brave New Play Rites for two years and has written more than a dozen works for stage and screen that focus on contemporary Indigenous narratives.
Prior to starting his studies here, Neal lived and worked throughout Canada and the U.S. He had jobs in creative services and editorial departments at places like Bravo (NBC Universal), Mother Jones, and Vanity Fair. More recently, he was in New York, working in the marketing department of the Kitchen, one of the city’s oldest non-profit avant-garde arts spaces. But writing for the stage was always on his mind.
In the early 2000s, he co-founded a theatre company in Oakland. “I was also a heavy partier and had a demanding day job in San Francisco,” Neal says. “After a couple years I burned out.”
He abandoned theatre-producing to focus on his day job, and even though he was making a decent income, he found himself miserable.
“When I had finally cleaned up my act with addiction, I had a gnawing urge to connect with where I've come from and tell my many stories, always bubbling in my head,” Neal says. “It is my dream to see my stories become reality, to affect someone positively, and to gain a better understanding of our journey together on this Earth through empathy.”
In 2015, he began searching for a theatre producer in Canada or the U.S. to mount So Damn Proud, the idea for which came to him two decades ago. And while there was interest, no one was willing to take on the risk of producing work by an unknown playwright approaching his 40s. After applying for and receiving a grant from Canada Council for the Arts—which he considered a confidence booster—he knew he had to find a way to get his artistic vision off the ground, and Holy Crow Arts was born.
Neal, who now lives in the Downtown Eastside, says working on So Damn Proud (which he wrote and directs) has brought him closer to the Squamish Nation as well as family and friends.
Subtitled A Tale of Grit and Grace, the nonlinear play centres on two Squamish Nation siblings at a pivotal moment in each of their lives. The drama contains comedy, contemporary choreography, Coast Salish elements, and mystery. It also comes with a content warning, with themes of substance abuse, racism, and violence.
The cast of six includes Michelle Bardach, a member of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) with additional ancestry from the We Wai Kai Nation who has a diploma from the Musical Theatre Program at Capilano University and is completing her Bachelor of Performing Arts; Aaron M. Wells, who comes from the Nuu-Chah-Nulth and Tsimpsian Nations and is a graduate of the Canadian College of Performing Arts; and Metis actor Cole Vandale, artist in residence at the Skwachays Lodge who’s also developing his limited series Starlight (a continuation of his Sundance Ignite Fellowship finalist film) and his original feature, Indian in the Child.
Max Chadburn is a dancer and performance artist who has toured nationally and internationally and who has earned Leo and UBCP/ACTRA Award nominations; performer Sarah Formosa trained with Spiral Dance Company and Alonzo King LINES Ballet who has worked with numerous Vancouver dance companies and who has film and TV credits to her name; and Alysson Hall is an actor, writer, and filmmaker who earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Victoria who’s developing a feature version of her 2019 short film, “The Mirror”, which was a Crazy8s finalist.
Olivia C. Davies is So Damn Proud’s choreographer. The dance artist, community-arts facilitator, and emerging curator of Anishinaabe, French-Canadian, Finnish, and Welsh heritage is a founding member of the Circadia Indigena Aboriginal Arts Collective, Crow’s Nest Collective, and MataDanze Collective (in Toronto). Acting as choreographer assistant and dance director is queer artist Rianne Svelnis, a settler of Lithuanian and Belgian/Irish/English descent.
With cultural assistance from Squamish Nation Elder and artist Latash Maurice Nahanee and Squamish Language help from Rebecca Campbell, the show also features music by composer Russell Wallace.
With So Damn Proud and Holy Crow Arts’ work in general, Neal aims to boost the presence of modern-day, authentic Indigenous characters portrayed in theatre and film.
“I felt that there weren’t a lot of real Indigenous characters,” Neal says. “There are things like the Twilight saga that create this mythological presence from a Western perspective. I want to create those stories that have really smart, sophisticated, nuanced characters and that follow Indigenous people’s lives.”
As for the genesis of the company’s name, Neal notes he is a lover of all corvid birds. That’s one reason behind it. “They are symbols of transformation,” he says. “Holy Crow felt like a fitting moniker.”
For more information, see Holy Crow Arts.
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