![\"Four](\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Strife-Reading-1-copy-1050x788.jpg\")
Cast members of “Strife” \u2014 written by Canadian playwright and Assistant Professor of Dramatic Arts Matthew MacKenzie, citizen of the M\u00e9tis Nation of Albert \u2014\u00a0visited Brock\u2019s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts on April 2. The cast performed a read through of the play ahead of its run at Tarragon Theatre in Toronto from April 7 to 26. Pictured from left are Tracey Nepinak, Teneil Whiskeyjack, Jesse Gervais and Micheala Washburn.<\/p><\/div>\n
Students will gain a broad understanding of Indigenous plays written by Indigenous playwrights, knowledge MacKenzie believes is foundational to any Canadian dramatic arts education.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmbedded in these plays is teaching and wisdom about the Indigenous experience in Canada,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Students will read works by accomplished writers such as Kevin Loring, a Governor General\u2019s Award winner and the first Artistic Director of Indigenous Theatre at National Arts Centre; Frances Koncan, an Anishinaabe and Slovene playwright and theatre artist from Couchiching First Nation; and Kim Senklip Harvey, author of Kamloopa: An Indigenous Matriarch Story<\/em> and the first female Indigenous author to be awarded a Governor General\u2019s Literary Award for Drama.<\/p>\n Through a range of works that span comedy to deeply serious themes, students will explore topics such as cultural reclamation, identity and representation of historical events.<\/p>\n MacKenzie says the course will also help students understand why Indigenous theatre has only recently gained wider visibility.<\/p>\n \u201cFor a long time, the cultural sharing of Indigenous stories was criminalized in Canada, so Indigenous storytelling was suppressed or done in private. Only in relatively recent history have these stories been shared more widely and taken their place in Canadian theatre,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n For MacKenzie, foregrounding the work of Indigenous artists,\u00a0and students engaging with it, is a form of active reconciliation.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough this learning, we are not just talking about it, we are doing the work,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Issues explored in the plays \u2014\u00a0including the Sixties Scoop and the lasting impacting of the foster system and Residential Schools \u2014\u00a0reflect both distinct Canadian histories and broader patterns of colonialism.<\/p>\n The course invites students to engage with the material from their own perspective, whether they are Indigenous, non-Indigenous or international students.<\/p>\n The cast of \u201cStrife\u201d \u2014 written by award-winning Canadian playwright and Assistant Professor of Dramatic Arts Matthew MacKenzie, citizen of the M\u00e9tis Nation of Albert \u2014 previewed the play in a read through open to the Brock community on April 2. Pictured from left are performers Jesse Gervais, Val Planche and Grace Lamarche.<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cSeeing students develop this understanding through their own lens is incredibly meaningful,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n MacKenzie brings a unique perspective to the classroom as an accomplished contributor to the Indigenous theatre canon in Canada and award-winning playwright.\u00a0His works include First M\u00e9tis Man of Odesa<\/em>, Bears<\/em>, After the Fire<\/em> and The Particulars<\/em>. His\u00a0new play Strife<\/em> recently ran at Tarragon Theatre in Toronto and was called a \u201ca triumph\u201d by the Toronto Star.<\/p>\n He is also Artistic Director of Punctuate! Theatre, an Indigenous-led theatre company in Edmonton which frequently tours nationally.<\/p>\n![\"Three](\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Strife-Reading-2-copy-1050x788.jpg\")