I fell in love with this play over three years ago—watching a staged reading in Vancouver at the Talking Stick Festival, produced by Full Circle: First Nations Performance. I spoke that evening with playwright and director Kevin Loring about producing it at the Belfry—and shortly thereafter we had it scheduled for September of 2020, as the opening production of our 2020-2021 Season. The show was cast and the design team assembled. And then the pandemic dominoes started to fall—and we began contacting artists to let them know that the season had been cancelled.
Miraculously, here we are—a year and a half later— preparing to bring Little Red Warrior and His Lawyer to the stage. I am still in love with its anarchic, comedic way of delivering stinging political points. As Kevin discusses in his playwrights’ notes, he has infused the play with the Indigenous tradition of the Trickster. In so doing, he has created a new mash-up: politics, farce and disruption.
And I must extend my gratitude to all involved in this production—unbelievably, everyone who was meant to be in the 2020 production—the cast, the designers, and Kevin—are here in the building—ready to bring Little Red Warrior and His Lawyer to you, our audience—either in-person at the Belfry or live-streamed into your home!
Michael Shamata