This essay explores a variety of questions about embodied approaches to Indigenous storytelling, artistic process, and methodology, and the ways which they are taken up in the creation of new theatre work. By engaging in a discussion with Yolanda Bonnell, creator of the play bug, this article examines some of the implications of embodied storytelling and new play development. The article also considers how new Indigenous theatre works and performances at festivals such as SummerWorks can offer audiences entry points and sites for engaging difficult topics and issues that pertain to Indigenous/non-Indigenous relations. Further, the reader is invited into a discussion that teaches about an artist’s own process and methodology and how these are mobilized and activated through Indigenous storytelling, memory, and embodied practice.
“Responding to the thing that it is”: a study of new play development in English theatres
