Raven of the Railway
Raven of the Railway
2001
About
“Raven of the Railway is a mask dance installation, part of a large on-going project called Voices of the Roundhouse. Raven of the Railway is the culmination of a collaboration between Tsimshian carver and storyteller Victor Reece and choreographer and Roundhouse artist-in-residence Karen Jamieson. A multidisciplinary performance event, Raven of the Railway brings together professional and community artists in a site-specific work embodying the spirit of the Roundhouse. The Roundhouse is a space that has undergone radical transformation since its beginnings. Originally built as a workspace for the steam engine of the industrial age, it has been redesigned as a community and performance centre and is still in the process of transformation.
Raven of the Railway leads the audience through many of the transforming spaces of the Roundhouse. On this journey, the audience witnesses masked spirits evoking scenes of death and rebirth, is confronted with the images and every of the Roundhouse when it was a place of work in the age of the steam engine, and encounters the timeless world of Raven the trickster/transformer.
Throughout the work, Victor Reece retells history through the ancient traditional creation story told to him by his Grandmother Esther Reece, a Tsimshian matriarch and elder.”
- From the Raven of the Railway program handbill, May 29-June 2, 2001
THE PEOPLE
Collaborative Concept: Victor Reece (Tsimshian) and Sharon Jinkerson
Carver, Storyteller: Victor Reece (Tsimshian)
Choreographer, Artistic Director: Karen Jamieson
Assistant Director: James Fagan Tait
Performers: Dustin Anderson, Greg Odjig (Odawa, from the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve), Alisoun Payne, Alvin Erasga Tolentino
Co-composers: Jeff Corness and Ted Hamilton
Traditional Gitksan lament originally transcribed and taught by: Alice Jeffrey (Gitxsan)
Production Design: Andreas Kahre
Video: Sharon Jinkerson
Lighting Design: Gerald King
Consultant and tour guide text: Linda Moore
Costume Designer: Susan Berganzi
Assistant: Kriss Boggild
Graphic Designs: Connie Dickens
Makeup: Drew Glowinkowski
Assistant: Nora Woo
Stage Manager: Kelly Creelman
Technical Support: Angela Gasparetto
Technical Director: Sharon Huizinga
Publicist: Jodi Smith, JLS Entertainment
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