Story steeped in family trauma, humour at heart of Rosanna Deerchild's 1st play

The story at the heart of Rosanna Deerchild's first play and the inspiration behind it both start with something familiar to many — a conversation over a hot drink.

The Secret to Good Tea, which had its world premiere Thursday night on the Royal Manitoba Theatre Company's John Hirsch Mainstage, tells the story of a daughter and her efforts to convince her mother to open up about her experiences in Canada's residential schools.

It's the first play written by Deerchild, who is Cree from the O-Pipon Na-Piwin Cree Nation in northern Manitoba, and familiar to CBC Radio audiences as the host of Unreserved.

She recalls urging her own mother, Edna — a residential school survivor — to share her story during hearing of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015.

When they arrived at the hearing, which was held at The Forks in Winnipeg, there were so many other people wanting to share their stories that there was no room for Edna.

"So I took her aside and we had our first cup of tea together, sitting at a table at The Forks, and I asked her, 'Tell me your story. I will write it down, and then nobody can exclude you ever again," Deerchild said in an interview this week with CBC Manitoba's Information Radio.

That experience led Deerchild to publish her book of poetry Calling Down the Sky.

But that experience, and that theme of sharing tea, would continue to percolate.

The idea developed further when Deerchild joined the Pimootayowin Creators Circle, a playwrights group at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre led by Ian Ross, which is focused on developing new plays by Indigenous writers.

She learned a lot from Ross, a Governor General's Award winner for his play fareWel, Deerchild said.

"I refer to him as Ojibway-wan Kenobi, because he's a Jedi knight," she said, in reference to the wise teacher from the Star Wars series.

"He told us to write the last scene first … because [then] you know the destination you're trying to get to."

The Pimootayowin Creators Circle also led Deerchild to meet two of the play's future stars — Kathleen MacLean, who plays main character Gwynn Starr, and Tracey Nepinak, who plays Starr's mother, Maggie Mooswa.

"When I found out that this show was going to be programmed [at the Royal MTC], I felt so excited to audition and have the opportunity to go back to it," MacLean said in an interview with CBC Manitoba's Weekend Morning Show.

"Especially because I knew Rosanna, and those meetings would always be so fun and she has such a beautiful light. I was so excited to get to portray it again."

While her earlier book of poetry was more directly related to her mother's experiences at residential school, Deerchild's new play "is more about the intergenerational trauma and the effects and the ripples that happened as a result of the Indian residential school system here in Canada," she said. 

Despite its heavy subject,  the play is laced with a heavy dose of humour, she said.

"Any time you get two more than two Indigenous people in a room they're gonna laugh, they're gonna joke, they're gonna poke fun at each other … and I really wanted to convey that," she said.

"I believe very firmly that for every tear you shed, you also have to have the same amount of laughter to maintain that balance in life."

The play runs at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre until April 15.