Little Red Warrior and His Lawyer at Theatre Calgary
Get ready for laughs, surprises, and plenty to talk about as a Trickster Land Claim fable hits the Max Bell Theatre stage in the biting satire Little Red Warrior and His Lawyer. The show is a joint presentation between Theatre Calgary and Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society.
Written and directed by Governor General’s Award-winning playwright Kevin Loring, the story focuses on Little Red, who is the last remaining member of the Little Red Warrior Nation. One day Red discovers that a land development firm has violated his traditional territory. In a fit of rage, he attacks one of the engineers, gets arrested, and is assigned a court–appointed lawyer. Things turn satirical when a displaced Red moves in with the lawyer and his wife, because when you invite a coyote into the coop, they may just walk off with the chickens.
“I started writing this play in my second year of my three year stint at Studio 58, Langara College’s Theatre School in Vancouver, twenty-five years ago,” says Loring. "When I was writing the first drafts of this play I was digesting Shakespeare, Ionesco and Molière. And I was thinking about the Trickster stories I knew, and how they were way weirder than these dudes.”
“Many Trickster stories are absurd and often very sexual. They are stories of transformation and deception where nothing is as it seems,” Loring explains. “I wanted to tell a Story about Land Claims from the perspective of snk! y!ép, Coyote, our sacred profane Trickster, as told in the Nlaka’pamux Story Traditions. I wanted to explore that kind of contrary Trickster dramaturgy in the context of a Land Claim. What would Coyote do if his Lands were being threatened?”
“Ultimately, this is a Trickster fable about land claims, colonialism and lust, where nothing is sacred and no one walks away unscathed!” says Loring.
The cast of Little Red Warrior and His Lawyer features actors Gordon Patrick White (Little Red Warrior), Nick Miami Benz (Lizzy), Luisa Jojic (Desdemona), Kevin McNulty (Floyd), and Shekhar Paleja (Larry).
Originally presented in a workshop in 2001 at Vancouver’s Talking Stick Festival, the show was given a February 2022 World Premiere at the Belfry Theatre. Theatre Calgary’s presentation is the Belfry Theatre (Victoria) and Savage Society (Vancouver) joint production, in association with the National Arts Centre Indigenous Theatre in Ottawa. The show will also play at the NAC later this spring.
Little Red Warrior and His Lawyer is a unique chance for Theatre Calgary and Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society to partner for the first time. "We look to theatre to highlight the stories of the community we live in, or to show us stories we have not heard before," says Theatre Calgary Executive Director Maya Choldin. "The same can be said for working with other important arts organizations in our city, especially the wonderful artists at Making Treaty 7."
"The presence of Indigenous arts here in Calgary is something Making Treaty 7 holds high and we are committed to bringing the best quality theatre to our audiences,” adds Making Treaty 7 Artistic Director Michelle Thrush. “Theatre Calgary has taken on a commitment of honouring Indigenous stories and this new partnership has been a wonderful and rewarding journey.”
Little Red Warrior and His Lawyer runs from January 31st to February 19th at the Max Bell Theatre in Arts Commons. Tickets at theatrecalgary.com.
Special $20 Indigenous community tickets are available at theatrecalgary.com/lrw-communityoffer.
