Where the Blood Mixes - Drama

I am humbled and deeply honored by this award. It has taken many years and many people to bring this story to the stage. This story comes from the heart. I wrote this play to honour the survivors of the residential school system, to aid in the healing of their aching hearts. I wrote it for my generation and the generations below us, the children of the survivors, so that we could find patience for our elder’s struggles. I wrote this play because I witnessed the residual effects of St. Georges residential School on my own community, even decades after it closed down; and because I can still see the effects there today. I wrote this play because when I was growing up, there were at times up to three suicides a month in my community of 1200 people. I wrote this play because there are still children out there with no connection to their culture, their biological families, or the land which is their birthright. I wrote it for my family, my huge… huge family… and my little tiny one too: to let my uncles and aunts and cousins know that I listened to the stories, and have found my own way to tell them. They say in our culture that stories and songs seek out voices to sing them, speakers to tell them, that they are like living things. I wrote this play because this story chose me.
Kookstum. Thank you.