| The Rez Sisters | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Tomson Highway |
| Date premiered | November 26, 1986 |
| Place premiered | Native Canadian Centre of Toronto |
| Original language | English |
| Subject | Indian reserve life |
| Setting | A fictional reserve on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada |
The Rez Sisters is a two-act play by Canadian writer Tomson Highway (Cree), first performed on November 26, 1986, by Act IV Theatre Company and Native Earth Performing Arts.
The Rez Sisters is partially inspired by Michel Tremblay's play Les Belles-soeurs.[1] It explores the hopes and dreams of a group of seven women on the fictional Wasaychigan Hill Indian reserve. While Highway's treatment of his women characters is sympathetic and perhaps gentler than Tremblay's, their portrayal expresses a gritty and grim realism.
The Rez Sisters is the first of an unfinished cycle of seven plays which the playwright refers to as his Rez Septology. It includes a 'flip side' play Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing (1989), originally entitled The Rez Brothers.
The Rez Sisters features an ensemble cast of seven women dreaming of winning, and working toward raising enough money to attend, "The Biggest Bingo in the World," and one male actor/dancer in the role of Nanabush (originally played by the playwright's brother René Highway). The play melds the sometimes dark realities of life on a First Nation reserve with humour and elements of Aboriginal spirituality. It features some dialogue in the Cree and Ojibway languages.
In 2010, Highway staged Iskooniguni Iskweewuk, a Cree language version of the play.