Our Summer 2023 production was otîhêw, a Métis-Cree reimagining of Shakespeare’s Othello, written PJ Prudat and directed by Lisa Nasson. This reimagining of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy is set in a north western factory fort along the Saskatchewan river in 1816, the year of no summer, at the height of imperial trading that drove colonization over sovereign Indigenous lands. otîhêw, an affluent “child of the fur-trade”, is a Métis woman bound in the historical “custom-of-the-country” to Desmond, an Afro-Indigenous fur-trader, complicating her duty as the leader of her people.

Playwright PJ Prudat weaves together themes of duty, love, betrayal and familial bonds in a poetic and powerful play that will both surprise audiences familiar with Othello and captivate audiences encountering the story for the first time.

The production ran over three weeks with 10 free public performances at Memorial Park.