The Yukon and Northwest Territories are in Canada’s north and border above British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. The Indigenous peoples in the Yukon and Northwest Territory are the Dene, Southern and Northern Tutchone, Tlingit, Tagish, Kaska, Tanana, Han, Gwich’in(1), Inuit and Metis.
Created in 1979, Nakai Theatre took shape with two visiting non-Aboriginal grant writing team members, Langston and Mulloy, working with youth in the northernmost Yukon community of Old Crow. Once the idea of developing a professional theatre company started to take shape, the writers shared the idea with a Gwich’in woman and invited name suggestions – the response was Nee’khai meaning two. Nakai became the theatre’s name for the bridging of two cultures and three decades later continues …to develop and produce plays which have resonance in the North(17).
This article is a non-comprehensive and living document that provides an overview of artistic activities in the region. It will be revised as necessary as part of our ongoing process of continuous updates.
1) http://travelyukon.com/aboutyukonterritory/firstnations/
17) http://www.lib.unb.ca/Texts/TRIC/bin/get.cgi?directory=vol21_1/&filename=daeth.htm