Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (May 27/05) - Mary Ann Antoine created her own characters and used them to relate a story she conceived at a theatre school last summer.

She's hoping to return again this year.

Arts student Mary Ann Antoine and Ben Nind, co-ordinator of the Centre for Indigenous Theatre Summer School North, practise a drama exercise known as mirroring. Here, they are each pretending to pop a zit.

Ben Nind, co-ordinator for the Centre for Indigenous Theatre Summer School North, visited Fort Simpson last week to promote the school, which will be held Aug. 2-13 in Yellowknife. With highly-qualified local and national instructors and cultural advisors, the endeavour offers lessons in movement, acting, voice, modern and traditional dance and music.

Ten people, ranging in age from 17-99, will be accepted. Those who show the greatest passion for the arts, and who either want to pursue it as a profession or who will pass on the lessons in their home community, will have the best chance to get in, Nind noted.

Antoine, 18, attended last summer for the first time. She recalled the theatre games, where she was blindfolded and pretended to shoot others as they attempted to reach the gold at her feet. She also acted out a battle scene with an imaginary samurai sword and donned masks for exercises in body language. The latter activity helps actors and the audience grasp the subtlety of movement and gestures by taking away eye contact, Nind explained.

There are also exercises that focus on breathing and confidence building.

"It forces you to face your own insecurities on a whole bunch of different levels," Nind said of the acting classes, citing the fear of speaking one's mind as an example.

Near the conclusion of the summer school, the students combine the various forms of art to tell their own story. Antoine wore a mask and stuffed suit to create the image of a large man who was on a journey to find gold. On her back, she wore a different mask and a tuxedo. When she turned around, using lighting to help magnify the effect, she changed character into the storyteller.

"It was very powerful," said Nind, who is also the founder of Yellowknife's Stuck in a Snowbank Theatre. One of the keys to keeping culture alive is to tell stories, he suggested.

Antoine, who has participated in a few high school drama productions, said the school helped her improve her stage presence.

"It was a different experience," she said. "I enjoy it."