Moonlodge by Margo Kane at the 2017 Talking Stick Festival

Moonlodge by Margo Kane

Full Circle First Nations Performance is very excited to present the 16th Annual Talking Stick Festival – Kwèykw`áystway: Speaking With One Another from February 16-26, 2017. The Festival is proud to announce Moon Lodge February 17-25th, at the BMO Theatre Centre 162 West Avenue Vancouver, B.C.

Western Canada’s premier Indigenous Performing Arts Festival features 11 days of entertainment including Film, Theatre, Dance, Celebration of Powwow Culture and Aboriginal Artisan Fair, Métis Fair, Talking Circles, Music Concert Series, Industry Series and much more! Proudly located on the traditional unceded territories of the Coast Salish People.

Moonlodge, an Urban Ink production, presented in partnership with the Talking Stick Festival written by Full Circle’s Founder and Artistic Managing Director, Margo Kane, is a considered a classic in Canadian Aboriginal theatre. It is about a young Aboriginal woman named Agnes who was removed from her home by Child Welfare government services. She grows up in a series of foster homes, away from the warmth and support of her family and her cultural community. In the 1960s she joins many others hitchhiking across America, and in that journey she discovers the authentic voice inside her that had been silenced, but never lost. Margo is passing her work into the hands of two of Canada’s brightest upcoming theatre artists:

Directed by Corey Payette, for the first time, Moonlodge will be performed by a new actor, Paula-Jean Prudat. February 17th to 25th, 8:00pm BMO Theatre Centre Matinees on 18th, 19th, 22nd, 23rd and 25th. Group rates available for school groups for matinees.

Since its inception, the festival has become a place to honour Aboriginal tradition in contemporary forms that encompasses the artistic wealth of the people, and the promise of their future in Canada. It seems only fitting to use the festival theme as

Kwèykw`áystway: Speaking With One Another because it is this place – the unceded territory of the Coast Salish Nations – that brings us together today in celebration of art and culture. By using a language belonging to this region we recognize the traditional territory and deepen our relationship to the land around us.

For more information on the Talking Stick Festival, and complete schedule and tickets please visit the website at talkingstickfest.ca For Media Inquires and Interviews contact: Suzette Amaya – Talking Stick Festival – Publicist publicity@fullcircle.ca