About the Play:

Cottagers and Indians is a full-length comedy by Drew Hayden Taylor. Wild rice sparks a battle royal between an Indigenous farmer and a white cottager, whose increasingly bitter dispute becomes a microcosm for reconciliation. Told with warmth and humour, and encompassing issues of community, respect and ownership, Cottagers and Indians is a tale for our times – and a food fight for the ages.

Cottagers and Indians takes a sincere and pragmatic look at the current conflicts between First Nations traditional water usage and property owners in cottage country who are looking to enjoy an undisturbed summer getaway. The play explores the politics and issues surrounding a real-life event still occurring in the Kawartha Lakes region of Central Ontario. An Indigenous man, Arthur Copper, has taken it upon himself to repopulate the nearby lakes with wild rice, known amongst the Anishnawbe as Manoomin, much to the disapproval of the local non-Indigenous cottagers, Maureen Poole in particular. She feels the plant interferes with boating, fishing, swimming, and is generally an eyesore that brings down the property values of her cottage and those of her neighbours. Cottagers and Indians is a powerful dramatization of contemporary confrontations taking place between environmentalism and consumerism, Indigenous and non-Indigenous sensibilities

Cottagers and Indians premiered in 2017 at Tarragon Theatre in Toronto. The show received rave reviews, went on a multi-city tour across Ontario earned itself a second run at Tarragon in 2019, as well as a successful production in Vancouver.

Cast: 1 female (Non-Indigenous), 1 male (Indigenous)

What people say:

"There are no real heroes or villains in a story like this, only people trying to look after their families." — Drew Hayden Taylor

"I laughed out loud... If you like the jokes in Come From Away, then look into Cottagers and Indians." — The Globe and Mail

"Full of mischievous good humour... Sincere and amusing." — Mooney on Theatre

"Light and entertaining." — NOW Magazine

"Drew Hayden Taylor has a deft touch for mixing comedy and commentary in an entertaining and all-Canadian form of social satire." — Vancouver Sun

About the Playwright:

Drew Hayden Taylor one of Canada's best known and most prolific Indigenous writers. An Ojibway born on Curve Lake First Nation near Peterborough, Ontario, he has worn many hats in his literary career, from performing stand-up comedy at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., to being Artistic Director of Canada's premiere Aboriginal theatre company, Native Earth Performing Arts. He has been an award-winning playwright (with productions of his work in Canada, the US, and Europe), a journalist/columnist (appearing regularly in several Canadian newspapers and magazines), short-story writer, novelist, television scriptwriter, and documentary filmmaker.