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Manitoba Theatre for Young People: Aboriginal Arts Training and Mentorship program presents Romeo and Juliet, May 31 - June 3

MTYP’S Aboriginal Arts Training and Mentorship program
Master Class
Presents:

William Shakespeare’s
Romeo and Juliet

“With live period music and dancing, intense sword fights and Shakespeare’s soaring poetry, this play shows the brilliance of Aboriginal youth when given the opportunity to shine.”   -Anne Baragar, Director

From May 31st-June 3rd, 2012, MTYP’s Aboriginal Arts Training and Mentorship Program will present William Shakespeare’s masterpiece Romeo and Juliet with an all Aboriginal cast consisting of students from the age of 15 to 24 from the master class and directed by Anne Baragar, who has been passionately teaching and directing at MTYP for two decades. The master class provides an intensive training experience through the rehearsal and performance of a scripted play on the MTYP mainstage. Master class graduates, John Cook (winner of Best Actor at the 2010 America Indian Film Festival) and Joshua Ranville, are now attending Studio 58 in Vancouver, BC.  Last summer several cast members were featured at the 2011 Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival with their “Best of Fest” hit production of Little Red Riding Hood directed by Steven Schipper.

From classic fairy tales to classic drama; written in the late 16th Century, Romeo and Juliet still connects. “A lot of what Shakespeare wrote back in his time, all the problems and situations they go through, I see youth still struggle with today” says Braiden Houle, who will be taking on the role of Romeo. Mentoring artist Tracey Nepinak will appear as Friar Laurence in this production sharing her knowledge freely while working alongside the students in the Aboriginal tradition.  “The youth relate to themes of love, family allegiance, gang violence, despair, suicide and the unique relationship that elders play in the community.” says Nepinak. “It’s a timeless drama and a timeless tragedy and everyone can relate to it no matter what age you are” adds Kelsey Wavey who shares the role of Juliet with Ivy Chatelain. “This is not like any other show” says Ivy, “the fact that it's an all Aboriginal cast. It’s a kind of test, for people to see that we’re equal to everybody else and that we’re just as good, and  that we can pull off the work from such an amazing and difficult playwright like Shakespeare.”
 
“The Aboriginal Arts Training and Mentorship Program under the leadership of Columpa Bobb with incredible staff such as Tracey Nepinak, Ryan Black and Anne Baragar, is a leading exemplar of empowering young people through theatre. The young people who graduate from this program are writers, actors, poets, social leaders. The Aboriginal Arts Training and Mentorship Program under the direction of Columpa is knocking down the Berlin Wall here in Winnipeg.”  -Leslee Silverman, MTYP’s Artistic Director
 
Performances of Romeo and Juliet will be free in order to make the show accessible to all.

Public Shows
Thursday, May 31 at 10:00am
Friday June 1, at 12:00pm
Saturday, June 2nd 7:00pm
Sunday, June 3 at 3:00pm

Tickets for Romeo and Juliet are free and are available through the MTYP Box Office, at 942-8898.

For more information, visit http://www.mtyp.ca
You can find more information about Manitoba Theatre for Young People on the Winnipeg Cultural Map here.

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