The Awaken Festival is expanding its reach to Dawson City this April, bringing a performance and workshop by artist Philip Jonah Logan Geller to the community. As part of the festival’s seventh edition, these events offer local residents an opportunity to engage with professional Indigenous theatre in an intimate, northern setting.
The events are co-presented by Gwaandak Theatre, the Yukon’s only professional Indigenous theatre company, and the Klondike Institute of Art & Culture. Both sessions will take place at Dënäkär Zho, located at 902 2nd Avenue. The building’s name, chosen by Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in elders, means a house of mixed colours in the Hän language.
On April 15, Geller will facilitate a Trickster Performance Workshop from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. (doors at 5:30 p.m.). Following this, Geller will present their solo performance titled who will save the night sky? on April 17, from 8:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. (doors at 7:30 p.m.). This interactive show combines storytelling, clown, and bouffon techniques to explore humanity’s relationship with the stars.
Geller, a Michif and Jewish theatre creator and educator based in Winnipeg, developed the performance with support from the Winnipeg Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, and The Banff Centre. Admission to both events in Dawson City is pay-what-you-want for all attendees.
