Summer theatre group counters racial intolerance with play based on Syrian folk tale

A summer theatre group in Saskatoon is doing its part to counter racial intolerance by mounting a play inspired by a Syrian folk tale.

The Woodcutter and the Lion is one of two offerings from Sum Theatre this year. The group performs its plays for free inside the city's parks.

"Unfortunately there's countries around the world and even in some regions of our country where there's a lot of fear of being different, and Islamophobia is right up there," Sum Theatre's artistic director, Joel Bernbaum, told CBC Radio's Saskatchewan Weekend on Saturday.

"We want to just counter that with radical love and radical community."

'Lessons about courage and friendship'

The Woodcutter and the Lion tells the story of a woodcutter who is struggling during a drought and who travels downriver to an island teeming with wood but guarded by a ferocious lion.

"The lion allows him to chop some wood, and things get a little out of control and some lessons about courage and friendship and loyalty have to be learned," said director Kelly Fox.

The play's first performance drew over 200 people; by its second, the audience grew to 300.

"If that's any indication, we're going to have huge crowds this summer," said Bernbaum.

One of the play's cast members, Rana Mustafa, is a Syrian woman who moved to Canada last year. She's helped incorporate Syrian songs into the play.

"It's like she recognized that this was her opportunity to share something with her new home and the people who live in her new community that is not about crisis and pain and separation but is about the joy and the beauty of Syrian culture, that they can share with us here now," said Fox.

Theatre in the Pool

This is the first season that Sum Theatre has presented two plays during the summer, with its second offering taking a plunge into new territory.

Earth Diver, a production of the Cree creation story, is debuting on July 19 at the George Ward Pool.

It's the theatre group's way of marking Canada's recent 150th anniversary, but with a sensitivity to what that recent event represented to Indigenous groups.

"This allows us to engage in this discussion about 150 in a way that celebrates the newest people to our land, the oldest people — the original people from our land — and of course involve the audience in a fun way."

Times for both plays can be found on Sum Theatre's website.