Yellowknife (Jun 23/06) - Ottawa is about to get A Taste of the Wildcat, and also one of the Northern actors known for performing it.

The play, set in and around the historic eatery in Old Town, has been picked up for regular performances at the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa, as has Yellowknife actor Renelleta Bourque.

Yellowknife actor Renelleta Bourque, right, and Dramamuse performer Carol Beaudry run through a scenes from A Taste of The Wildcat, in preparation for the play's move to the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa. - Adam Johnson/NNSL photo

Dramamuse is the theatre company that brings the museum's displays to life. The play will be held in the replica of the Wildcat Cafe that has been on display in the museum's Canada Hall since 2002.

Trained in acting at the University of Alberta, Bourque has been performing the play regularly at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre for the last two years.

"I'm from the North, born and raised, and I've eaten at the Wildcat Cafe many times," she said. "To go to Ottawa and perform in the replica is going to weird me out."

Joking aside, she said it was an honour to be a part of the company, and to bring a "Northern energy to it."

The Museum of Civilization commissioned the play three years ago, selecting playwright and Northern Arts and Cultural Centre executive director Ben Nind to write it.

The play tells nine stories about the history of the North, he said, often using the Wildcat Cafe as a setting or as a jumping-off point.

The stories follow the founding of the cafe itself, as well as stories of Northern love and the interactions between Dene peoples and the segregated black soldiers who built the Canol pipeline.

"I insisted that we have someone from the North telling the stories and especially someone with a First Nations background," he said.

All last week, Bourque and Dramamuse actor Carol Beaudry rehearsed the play in the Wildcat Cafe in Yellowknife, as preparation for the replica.

Beaudry said over a million people move through the museum and Canada Hall each year, and respond well to the sense of immersion actors working there try to create in each historical setting.

"They're amazed because suddenly they're being dragged back in time," he said.

"Because we are a national museum, what is important to us is that we tell stories about the whole country," said Dramamuse director Jennifer Boyes-Monseau.

She said the replica cafe was the last stop on the tour through Canada Hall, and attempts to give visitors a taste of the North. This includes phones with recorded stories from Rene Fumoleau, and even an updated copy of Yellowknifer.

"We're not just talking about history, but how history reverberates through to today," she said.

While Bourque is excited, she said the biggest challenge for her in Ottawa will be language, as the play must be performed in both English and French.

"It gives me something to prepare for," she said. "I get to learn something completely new."

A Taste of the Wildcat will run at the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa from June 26 to Aug. 30.