Explore Métis history through fiddle music, jigging, and a life-like buffalo puppet
By Trail Arts Council
The Trail and District Arts Council and Rossland Council for Arts & Culture present Where Have All the Buffalo Gone? by Axis Theatre, on Sunday, March 1 at 3 p.m. in The Bailey Theatre as part of the TECK Family Series.
Where Have All The Buffalo Gone? is a love-story for all ages that starts in creation among the stars and ends in 2024, transcending time as it follows two souls through seven different periods of Métis history. Filled with stories about the Sun Traveller and the Callihoo family, the performance is a theatre piece that incorporates fiddle music, jigging, and a life-like buffalo puppet.
Inspired by historical events of the Métis people of Canada, this original play for young audiences explores the loves, the losses and the fight of Treaty 6’s Métis people – and their love and kinship to the buffalo. The play takes the audience through the emergence of the Métis Nation across the plains, then leads into the robust colonization that arises from the fur trade, the disappearance of the buffalo, as well as the political uprising of the Métis Association of Alberta in the 1930s.
“… my husband, daughter (12) and I just came home from attending the live performance of “Where have all the buffalo gone?” and it was so brilliantly well done. Everyone should see this piece, for all ages. It’s educational in a fun way and keeps you engaged the whole time.” – Laura Ayotte, Grand Forks parent
The creative team consists of playwright Tai Amy Grauman; director Amanda Testini; co-director & sound designer Chris McGregor; set, props & buffalo designer Dusty Hagerüd; and costume designer Alaia Hamer.
Axis Theatre aims to engage young people in an interactive experience that educate, inspire, and transform by incorporating puppetry, movement, live music, and improvisation to expand the meaning and impact of the stories presented.
Axis Theatre is grateful to live, work, and play on the unceded, traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples – sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh), and xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam) nations. A special thank you to the Axis Theater company’s sponsors: The Downie-Wenjack and Chris Spencer Foundations.
The show is 55 minutes long with a 15-minute Q&A after the show and is suitable for kids in Grade 4 to 12, their families and the young at heart to enjoy together.
Tickets are $18 and are available online at purchase.trail-arts.com, by phone at 250-368-9669, and in person at the Bailey Box Office at 1501 Cedar Ave., Trail.
This show is made possible thanks to funding from Teck Trail Operations, the BC Arts Council, BC Live Performance Network, the Government of Canada, and Tourism South Kootenay with support from Ferraro Foods and the Prestige Mountain Resort Rossland. We also gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Province of British Columbia.
