Kainai playwright and social worker Terry Ivins wrote a play called \u2018Time Stands Still\u2019 and it\u2019s heading back to stage in Calgary Nov. 18th. It is about two Blackfoot friends serving 5-10 years in federal prison for armed robbery. The play is set during their first-year anniversary in prison together.<\/p>\n
The artistic director of Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society is Michelle Thrush and she\u2019s also the play\u2019s director.<\/p>\n
Thrush says the play has been on stage across Canada since the late 1990s but it hasn\u2019t run recently. She told the board she was interested in resurrecting the play, \u2018Time Stands Still.\u2019<\/p>\n
She says that Ivins was interested and wanted to include his cousin, Canadian singer-songwriter Corb Lund, who will be performing live music on stage.<\/p>\n
Thrush says that she believes that Ivins was inspired to write the play because of high Indigenous incarceration rates.<\/p>\n
Thrush says the play is about two prisoners\u2014played by Blackfoot actors Dustin Frank and Garrett Smith\u2014who have different conversations on stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are talking about memories of growing up \u2014 you know, tough times, funny things, love, what they\u2019re going to do when they get out, how they make time go by while they\u2019re in, how they screwed up really bad, people back home on the rez. It\u2019s really funny. It\u2019s a funny play and [it] all takes place, sort of, in one night \u2014 one night in the prison cell.\u201d<\/p>\n
The play runs from Nov. 18-27, 8 p.m. at the Flanagan Theatre at the Grand in Calgary, with no show on Monday. Matinees will show at 2 p.m. on the weekends.<\/p>\n
COVID-19 protocols will be in place and attendees will be seated according to their personal bubbles. Proof of complete vaccination will be required.<\/p>\n