Inspiration 

One day I ran into Elder Ethel Thomas, who at the time was the Addictions Counsellor at the Band Office. She said, “It’s time to do another Community Play, About Addictions Awareness”, and this time on the Reserve. I laughed and told her that it was a good idea, and her turn to make it happen as I wasn’t able to do another project the size of a community play again …

A few days later, driving towards Enderby from the south, I looked over at the Starlight Drive-in, which is on Splatsin Reserve. A marvelous idea popped into my head - Community Shadow Play. Immediately I tried to get rid of the idea!  but I mentioned it to my friend Stephan Bircher, a lighting designer living locally. He was excited but doubtful as to its feasibility, on a steel screen.

When I told Ethel the idea she arranged for me to talk to Loretta Thomas who is the owner of the screen. When her permission was cleared, Stephan and I went to meet Brian Smith and Paul Lindquist, the two men who run the cinema. They too were supportive, and invited us to come and try things out one night after the double bill. 

And so we did - packing along ladders, lights, carboard cutouts, extension cords, and sticks. At 1 AM, we met Ethel and her daughter Sandra at the Cinema.  

We did our simple experiments, shining some theatre lights onto the screen and holding up cardboard shapes in the light beam. It was amazing. The shadows were sharp and clear. From in front of the curved screen the acoustics were amazing. 

Ethel danced in the beam, and her thirty foot shadow danced against the sky.  - Cathy Stubington

Community Engagement

Coordinated by Ethel Thomas and Linda Mitchell of Spallumcheen (Splatsin) Band Health Department and Cathy Stubington of Runaway Moon,  “Shadows in the Sky” Addiction Awareness project took place throughout Enderby and Splatsin in the winter and spring leading up to the show, gathering interest, awareness, and ideas leading up to the show. 

Workshops in simple shadow theatre at the schools and after-school programs with children and teens, including a visit with shadow artist Tamara Unroe, was a way of gathering interest,. 

We held pastel drawing workshops with adults at the Band Hall, with guest artist Lisa Figueroa.

We talked with many people, who shared imagery that helped represent relationships with addiction and met with addiction counselors. 

To help get the idea across, we invited Karen Wong to present a Traditional Chinese Shadow Puppet Theatre show, at the Band Hall and at Curly Willow.

And, we invited the community to help build puppets and costumes and participate in the performance.

Synopsis: There were three layers to the narrative.

James Fagan Tait and Cathy met with Rosalind Williams (during the same trip that wrote “Not the Way I Heard It” Community Play), and again co-created the script/storyboard with her thoughtful input.

There were three layers to the narrative:

1. Advertisements gently mocking the way our society advertises the stuff of addictions: snacks, junk food, cigarettes, alcohol….

2. An ethereal journey made up of images and metaphors for addiction that were shared, beginning with a young person setting out into life’s journey with the baggage his parents hope is what he needs. 

3. Chapters in the true (and typical) story of a girl growing up on the Reserve, in a house where there was alcohol abuse.