Tomson Highway | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Highway in 2018 | |
| Born | (1951-12-06)6 December 1951 (age 73) Manitoba, Canada |
| Occupation | Playwright, novelist, children's author, pianist |
| Language | English,Cree |
| Alma mater | University of Western Ontario |
| Notable works | The Rez Sisters,Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing,Kiss of the Fur Queen |
| Notable awards | Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play,Floyd S. Chalmers Award Winner of the 2021 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction for Permanent Astonishment, a Memoir. The book chronicles the first 15 years of Highways life in the remote Subarctic. |
| Website | |
| tomsonhighway | |
Tomson HighwayOC (born 6 December 1951) is anIndigenous Canadianplaywright,novelist,children's author and musician. He is best known for his playsThe Rez Sisters andDry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, both of which won theDora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play and theFloyd S. Chalmers Award.[1]
Highway also published a novel,Kiss of the Fur Queen (1998), which is based on the events that led to his brotherRené Highway's death ofAIDS.[1] He wrote the libretto for the firstCree language opera,The Journey or Pimooteewin.
Tomson Highway was born on 6 December 1951 in northwesternManitoba to Pelagie Cook and Joe Highway, acaribou hunter and championdogsled racer.[1][2]Cree is his first language and he was raised according to Cree tradition before being sent toresidential school.[2][3] He is related to actor/playwrightBilly Merasty.
When he was six, Tomson's father voluntarily enrolled him at Guy Hill Indian Residential School. Until he was fifteen, he was allowed to return home only during the summer months.[4]
Some children who attended residential schools later reported abuse. Highway has said that "Nine of the happiest years of my life I spent it at that school," crediting it with teaching him English and to play piano. He has said that "There are many very successful people today that went to those schools and have brilliant careers and are very functional people, very happy people like myself. I have a thriving international career, and it wouldn't have happened without that school."[4]
He obtained his B.A. in HonoursMusic in 1975 and his B.A. in English in 1976, both from theUniversity of Western Ontario.[1] While working on his degree, he met playwrightJames Reaney.[1] For seven years, Highway worked as a social worker onFirst Nations reserves across Canada. He also was involved in creating and organizing several Indigenous music and arts festivals.[5]
Drawing from these experiences, he has written novels and plays that have won him widespread recognition across Canada and around the world.[6]
In 1986, Highway publishedThe Rez Sisters, which won multiple awards in productions across Canada. It also went to theEdinburgh International Festival in 1988. In 1989, he publishedDry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, which was the first Canadian play to receive a full production atToronto'sRoyal Alexandra Theatre.
Both of these plays explore the community on a fictional First Nation reserve of Wasychigan Hill onManitoulin Island.The Rez Sisters depicts seven women of the community planning a trip to the "BIGGEST BINGO IN THE WORLD" in Toronto and features a maletrickster, calledNanabush.Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing depicts the men's interest inice hockey and features a female trickster.Rose, written in 2000, is the third play in the heptalogy, featuring characters from each of the previous plays.
Highway was artistic director ofNative Earth Performing Arts in Toronto from 1986 to 1992,[5] as well as De-ba-jeh-mu-jig theatre group in Wikwemikong.
Frustrated with difficulties presented byplay production, Highway wrote a novel calledKiss of the Fur Queen.[5] The novel presents an uncompromising portrait of thesexual abuse ofNative children inresidential schools and its traumatic consequences.Kiss of the Fur Queen has won a number of awards and spent several weeks on top of Canadian bestseller lists.[6]
After a hiatus from playwriting, Highway wroteErnestine Shuswap Gets Her Trout in 2005. Set in 1910, the play revolves around the visit of the "Big Kahoona of Canada" (thenPrime MinisterWilfrid Laurier) to theThompson River Valley.
In 2010, Highway re-publishedThe Rez Sisters andDry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing in a Cree-language edition. Highway said that "the Cree versions [...] are actually the original versions. As it turns out, the original ones that came out 20 years ago were the translation."[7]
His musicalThe (Post) Mistress premiered in 2009 as acabaret titledKisageetin.[8] It was developed as a fullmusical, which has since been staged across Canada in both English and French versions.[9] A soundtrack album for the musical was released in 2014;[10] it garnered aJuno Award nomination forAboriginal Album of the Year at theJuno Awards of 2015.[11]
In 2022Cree Country, an album of original Cree-languagecountry songs written by Highway and sung by his frequent collaboratorPatricia Cano, was released.[12]
Highway divides his time between residences inGatineau,Québec, in France and in Italy with his life partner Raymond Lalonde.[13]
Highway has been awarded ten honorary degrees, from Brandon University, the University of Winnipeg, the University of Western Ontario (London), the University of Windsor, Laurentian University (Sudbury, Ontario), Lakehead University (Thunder Bay, Ontario), l'Universite de Montreal, University of Manitoba, Carleton University and the University of Toronto. In addition, he holds two "equivalents" of such honours: from The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and The National Theatre School in Montreal.[6]
In 1994, he was made a member of theOrder of Canada. In 1998,Maclean's named him as one of the '100 most important people in Canadian history'. In 2001, he received aNational Indigenous Achievement Award, now the Indspire Awards, in the field of arts and culture.
Although Highway is considered one of Canada's most important playwrights,[1] in recent years both theatre critics and Highway have noted a significant gap between his reputation and the relative infrequency of his plays being produced by theatre companies.[13] According to Highway, theatres frequently face or perceive difficulty in finding a suitable cast of First Nations actors, but are reluctant to risk casting non-Indigenous performers due to their sensitivity to being accused ofcultural appropriation. He believes that such companies simply pass over his plays instead.[14]
In 2011, director Ken Gass mounted a production ofThe Rez Sisters at Toronto'sFactory Theatre. As part of an ongoing research project into the effects ofcolour-blind casting on theatre, he staged two readings of the play — one with an exclusively First Nations cast and one with a colour-blind cast of actors from a variety of racial backgrounds — before mounting a full colour-blind stage production.[14]
His memoirPermanent Astonishment was the winner of the 2021Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction.[15]
Highway gave the 2022Massey Lecture.[16]
Plays[edit]
Novels[edit]
| Films[edit]
Critical works[edit]
Children's books[edit]
Libretti[edit]
Essay[edit]
Memoir[edit]
|
