Director says cancelled play 'about white culture, not Indigenous culture'

A day after cancelling the final four performances of the play Sisters, the Fernwood Community Association Board of Directors says it had a responsibility “to act quickly and decisively.”

Just hours prior to Wednesday's scheduled presentation at Paul Phillips Hall on Fernwood, the board informed Theatre Inconnu it was calling off the rest of its tenant’s two-week run because of an online uproar pegging the play “offensive” and “racist.”

“Our decision to cancel the remainder of the showings of Sisters was a challenging decision made after much deliberation,” a statement from the board said.

“This decision was made to make space for listening and ensure the safety of everyone in our building and community.”

The play’s director calls the response “a smokescreen, full of righteous claptrap and not at all in accord with [its] actions.”

Kevin McKendrick tells Capital Daily “the board failed to carry out any meaningful due diligence on the issue and reacted in a knee-jerk fashion.”

'You shouldn't be doing that.'

On Wednesday, Clayton Jevne, artistic director and GM for Theatre Inconnu, the troupe putting on the play, told Capital Daily when he communicated with the protesters the response was, “‘Well, you're a white person, you're doing a story that concerns First Nations, and you shouldn’t be doing that.’”

Jevne said he’s pretty sure many of those opposing the production haven’t read or seen the play because “No one would identify why the play was racist or offensive.”

Director says board should have done more

Reached Thursday night in Calgary, the director McKendrick said he’s convinced that statement also applies to the Fernwood Communituy Association (FCA) board.

“At the very least, the board had a duty of care to at least see the play taking place under its roof.”

In an email to Capital Daily, the board said it would have no comment beyond what was contained in its release, so its reaction to McKendrick’s comments at this moment are unknown.

BC author wrote play in 1991

‍ Sisters, written by Vancouver-born playright and former NDP MP Wendy Lill, tells the fictional story of three nuns in a convent-run residential school. It centres on one sister who in her struggles with the Catholic Church’s role in assimiliating First Nations children, ends up setting fire to a residential school in Nova Scotia.

McKendrick said any assertions Lill’s play—or Theatre Inconnu’s performance of it—is racist is misguided.

“The play is about white culture, not Indigenous culture,” he tells Capital Daily.

He said there are no Indigenous voices in the play because the theatrical work is about the oppressors, not the victims.

It's the religious sect 'that should feel offended'

“If anybody should feel offended, it would be members of the religious orders as they are the target for the writer,” he said.

“If any board member had seen the play, this would have been abundantly obvious.”

The FCA board said it would like to use the opportunity to learn and grow together and has “invited Theatre Inconnu staff and performers to a discussion with us and an Indigenous facilitator.”

McKendrick said he would not support such a discussion “because the play is not about that community—a fact the board does not understand, even now.”

McKendrick said Sisters is a play that requires white society to listen to its mistakes, as told to by other members of white society.

“So in fact, the board’s decision prevented an opportunity of listening and learning.”

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Read the FCA board’s statement here.

Read Mark's previous story on this here.