Play breathes new life into story of activist Anna Mae Aquash

09.05.2008 23:01 Arts - Source: cbc.ca

A play examining the life and work of 1970s Mi'kmaq activist Anna Mae Pictou Aquash is raising new questions about her death.

Aquash, a Canadian woman who belonged to the radical American Indian Movement (AIM), was found dead on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in 1975.

The play about her, Annie Mae's Movement, was written by Saskatchewan playwright Yvette Nolan, the artistic director of the Native Earth in Toronto, and has previously been performed in Toronto and Peterborough.

But Alanis King, director of a new production at Greystone Theatre in Regina, says there's a new generation that knows nothing about Aquash or her fight.

"Its content is very riveting," King told CBC News. "It's a story that's recreating the life of Anna Mae. And we thought we would stage it in this city because we've never heard her story come to light before."

Aquash, just 26 at the time of her death, was a mother of two and had become a powerful activist for First Nations land rights and control of education. She'd participated in the 1973 re-occupation at Wounded Knee and was rising in the male-dominated AIM. The play teases out the roots of her activism.

"Through the course of each scene we see…people who affected her throughout her young adult life, all the way to joining AIM and towards the end of her life," King said.

"She left us too soon," King said, referring to her execution-style murder.

"At Saskatchewan Native Theatre we always try to create plays about heroes…This is a story about a strong, strong person and it's even stronger because she's a woman. She has all the qualities of a typical warrior. She believed…in us having a voice."

Actress Michelle Thrush plays Annie Mae in the production, opening Saturday.

'An icon'

"Whenever you think of aboriginal history, you always think about men. We've got so many male leaders that are highlighted in history and you don't really think about the women," Thrush said.

"Annie Mae was an icon as far as aboriginal politics. She stood up for things that were really, really important to us as people."

Actors Glen Gould and Mitchell Poundmaker each play several male characters.

Since the play was originally written, a man has been convicted in her murder and another is awaiting trial, but much about the story remains ambiguous.

There was FBI infiltration of the AIM movement and there are suggestions that either the FBI, who allowed her to be buried as a Jane Doe, or the AIM itself could have been involved.

No-one was charged for nearly 30 years, Gould pointed out.

'A lingering question'

"You know there were rumours it could've been AIM, it was rumoured it could've been the FBI, it could've been the goon squad. … Even still there's a lingering question whether they got the right guys in prison."

The theme song of the AIM movement has been resurrected along with Annie Mae's story, King said. Regina's Young Thunderdrum Group has learned the piece and will be performing it.

Annie Mae's Movement by the Saskatchewan Native Theatre Co. will be on stage May 10 to 17 at Greystone Theatre, at the University of Saskatchewan.

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