Canadian history in action all summer at the Canadian Museum of Civilization

June 29, 2006

Canadian history in action all summer at the Canadian Museum of Civilization

Gatineau, Quebec, June 29, 2006 — All the world is a stage at the Canadian Museum of Civilization this summer. Starting this week, Dramamuse, the Museum’s resident theatre company, is bringing new life to stories from various times and places across Canada. History never seems so real or relevant as when a flesh-and-bone character can look you in the eye and tell it first-hand. Museum visitors will be offered this experience all summer long with two new original plays in the Canada Hall.

Award-winning Yellowknife playwright Ben Nind serves up a hearty spread of stories and characters from the North West Territories in A Taste of the Wildcat. In 35 minutes at the Wildcat Café, visitors meet prospectors, students, bush pilots, far-flung newlyweds and exotic black visitors. They hear how gold was struck, how hearts were broken, how families were torn apart and how the cold North could create freedom and warmth from the unlikeliest of contacts. Actors Carol Beaudry and Reneltta Bourque, who is from Yellowknife, will introduce Museum visitors to some memorable characters and share poignant tales from Great Slave Lake and beyond.

A Taste of the Wildcat
Sunday through Wednesday
1:30 p.m. in French and 3 p.m. in English
Until August 28, 2006 (except July 2)

Past and present collide in the new interactive play by local playwrights Marie Cadieux, Lib Spry and the Dramamuse company. In There She Blows, There She Goes! a modern woman comes face-to-face with workers from the past, a Basque whaler, a fur trader and a lumber camp cook. Her ecological concerns and contemporary sensibilities are challenged by the tough realities of life on the frontier of the New World. The play moves like a wave through scenes in the Canada Hall as it treats serious, current issues with wit, humour and intelligence. Actors Denis Blais, Stephanie Burchell and Martin Cadieux treat visitors to a lively debate that provides new perspectives on how we lived and are living in our world.

There She Blows, There She Goes!
Thursdays at 3:30 p.m. in French and 5 p.m. in English
Fridays at 2 p.m. in French and 3:30 p.m. in English
Saturdays at 11 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. in English and 2 p.m. in French
Until September 2, 2006 (except July 1)

Also watch for our interactive characters in the Canada Hall this summer: Txomin Olazabal, Basque whaler; Gaspard Rassine, fur trader; Mme Aubry, innkeeper, her daughter Marie-Angélique and Antoine Durvernay, Captain of the militia in New France; Rolland Lafleur, lumber camp cook; and Louis Fortin and Aaron Leahy in Saskatchewan.

Media Information:

Chief, Media Relations
Canadian Museum of Civilization
Tel.: (819) 776-7167

Media Relations Officer
Canadian Museum of Civilization
Tel.: (819) 776-7169

Fax: (819) 776-7187


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