Saskatoon 
Events Description
World premiere produced by Gordon Tootoosis Nikaniwin Theatre in partnership with Burnt Thicket Theatre
Directed by Roxanne Dicke with dramaturgy by Daniel Macdonald.
Finding love and self following the aftermath of Road Allowance Métis displacement.
Inspired by the playwright’s father, who lived as a Road Allowance Métis haunted by memories of his community being forced into railcars and shipped away, Charlie wrestles with the consequences of intergenerational trauma as he fights to forge a new legacy of love with his wife, Rose. In 1940, the government of Tommy Douglas began a campaign to eradicate Métis Road Allowance Communities, sending their residents to remote Rehabilitation Farms in northern Saskatchewan.
Now in his mid-thirties, Charlie finds himself at a crossroads in his work, his purpose, and his marriage. Bewildered by flashbacks of his mother, Bella, and haunted by the riddles of a seemingly homeless yet mystical woman, Charlie searches for what he’s been chasing—or running from: his uncertain future and the community home he lost.
About the Playwright:
Arnolda Dufour Bowes is a creative artist, emerging playwright, and multi-award-winning author of multiple books and stories. Her work 20.12m: A Short Story Collection of a Life Lived as a Road Allowance Métis inspired this play, which explores a fictionalized account of her Kokum and father’s experiences when the 1946 Saskatchewan government imposed the Métis Rehabilitation Farms and forcibly removed families from Road Allowances to Green Lake in the north. Development of this new script has been supported by GTNT’s New Voices writers-in-residence program and Burnt Thicket Theatre. Arnolda Dufour Bowes’ award-winning book 20.12m, available at bookstores, birthed both the play Apples and Train Tracks and her multi-sensory art installation of the same name, exhibited recently at Batoche National Historic Site in 2025.
Audience Advisory: This production was not created for young audiences, although children are welcome to attend at the discretion of their guardian. Contains some coarse language and mature themes.
HOW MUCH
Tickets:
All tickets are Pay What You Choose.
How to get tickets?
WHEN & WHERE
Date & Time:
April 30 – May 10, 2026
- Thursday April 30th @ 7:30pm (Preview Night)
- Friday May 1st @ 7:30pm (Opening Night)
- Saturday May 2nd @ 7:30pm
- Sunday May 3rd @ 2pm
- Thursday May 7th @ 7:30pm
- Friday May 8th @ 7:30pm
- Saturday May 9th @ 7:30pm
- Sunday May 10th @ 2pm
Venue:
ON THE BOARDS at The Refinery, 609 Dufferin Avenue, Saskatoon
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