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Anyone curious about the next generation of native playwrights should check out Native Earth’s new works showcase Weesageechak Begins To Dance. Included is Darrell Dennis’s Tales Of An Urban Indian, a play about a native man (Herbie Barnes) who leaves a reserve, heads to the city, ends up on skid row, then tries to recover. It’s loosely based on Dennis’s own experiences “trying to fit in and find a balance between what I left behind and what I gained.” Dennis, a regular along with Barnes on the CBC show The Rez, likens the play to John Leguizamo’s dark solo comedy Freak. Comedy is key for Dennis, a Second City vet. “Humour is important, especially in native culture,” he says. “You can’t have a play with heavy drama and not have the humour that native people are famous for. It’s a survival mechanism.”
