Shakespeare in action presents: otîhêw

written by PJ Prudat
a Cree-Métis re-imagining of Othello
directed by Lisa Nasson

sound/lighting design by Jacob Lin
set/costume design by Nishina Loft
puppet design/creation by Clay and Paper Theatre

August 4-20, 2023
Wednesdays to Saturdays at 7:00pm
Sundays at 2:00pm

Free
Bring your own seating.

This August, Shakespeare in Action returns to Memorial Park with otîhêw for their annual, free outdoor summer production.

This reimagining of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy, Othello, is set in a north-western factory fort along the Saskatchewan river in 1816, the year of no summer, in which a volcanic eruption cast a smoke so thick the sun was not visible for months. The story takes place 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.

Shakespeare in Action (SiA) is an award-winning theatre company that grows, supports, and sustains an accessible, collaborative, and relevant performing arts ecosystem anchored in community. With a dedicated home in northwest-Toronto’s Artscape Weston Common, SiA has committed to producing a free professional production in Memorial Park annually for members of the York South-Weston Community.