NEW RELEASE: Two Plays About Residential School (Indigenous Education Press)- honours the fearless voices of residential school survivor Larry Loyie (Cree, 1933-2016) and intergenerational survivor Vera Manuel (Secwepemc / Ktunaxa, 1949-2010).
In the early 1990s, two Indigenous authors wrote about their individual experiences of residential schools. Ora Pro Nobis, Pray for Us by Larry Loyie and The Strength of Indian Women by Vera Manuel were staged a decade before Canada apologised for the residential school system, and 15 years before Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Two Plays About Residential School is an updated version in honour of the 20th anniversary, from Indigenous Education Press (Brantford, Ontario).
“These plays shook audiences with the truth about residential schools,” recalls editor, and Larry Loyie’s longtime partner, Constance Brissenden. “Larry Loyie and Vera Manuel courageously tackled a hidden history. Most Canadians didn’t know about residential schools. Others questioned their negative effects.”
With honesty, and often humour, the authors reinforce the voices of survivors. “Two Plays About Residential School is essential reading along the path of truth and reconciliation,” says publisher Jeff Burnham, founder of Indigenous Education Press / www.goodminds.com in Brantford, Ontario.
Larry Loyie spent six years at St. Bernard Mission residential school in Grouard, Alberta. His award-winning books include the national history Residential Schools, With the Words and Images of Survivors (Indigenous Education Press) and two children’s books on the subject, As Long as the Rivers Flow (Groundwood) and its sequel Goodbye Buffalo Bay (Theytus).
In Ora Pro Nobis, Pray for Us, the lively friendship of a group of boys help them survive their residential school years. In Larry Loyie’s introduction to the play, he writes, “For Indigenous people, writing helps others understand who we are and what we went through. It’s a way to share our traditions and our healing journeys.” Larry Loyie spent more than two decades talking to students about residential school history, giving more than 1,600 presentations.
In Vera Manuel’s Strength of Indian Women, four elders prepare for a teenaged girl’s coming-of-age feast. As they work together, the women reveal the secrets of their residential school years. Both of Vera Manuel’s parents, political leader George Manuel and spiritual leader Marceline Manuel, attended residential schools. Vera Manuel, a poet, performer and healer, directly experienced the fallout. “I mourned that little girl who never had a childhood,” she writes in her introduction. “I mourn the mother missing from my childhood, and I gave thanks for the mother who became my loving teacher in adulthood.”
Compassion, humour, and hope mark Two Plays About Residential School and the works of Larry Loyie and Vera Manuel. The anthology is a must for all readers, for teachers, libraries, and collections.
Two Plays About Residential School is available from Indigenous Education Press /www.goodminds.com. To order, call GoodMinds.com, Indigenous book distributor, at 1 519 753 1185, Extension 1, or order online at www.goodminds.com. The book is $19.95, 120 pages, includes two full-length plays, author notes, production notes, photo credits.
