Kamloopa: An Indigenous Matriarch Story
By Kim Senklip Harvey
Talonbooks
“The brilliance, the irreverence, the fire of Kamloopa sweeps us into the world of three Indigenous women on a mind-bending quest. The audience is seduced by the love, humour and depth of these matriarchs as they embrace and celebrate who they are in the world and with each other. A play that will encourage you to re-evaluate your relationship with Canada.”
—Peer assessment committee: Catherine Banks, Andrew Moodie, Kenneth T. Williams
Synopsis
TIME: All.
SPACE: The Multiverse.
Come along for the ride to Kamloopa, the largest powwow on the West Coast. This high-energy, Indigenous, matriarchal story follows two urban Indigenous sisters and a lawless trickster who face our world head-on as they come to terms with what it means to honour who they are and where they come from. But how to go about discovering yourself when Christopher Columbus allegedly already did that? Bear witness to the courage of these women as they turn to their ancestors for help in reclaiming their power in this ultimate transformation story.
In developing matriarchal relationships and shared Indigenous values, Kamloopa explores the fearless love and passion of two Indigenous women reconnecting with their homelands, ancestors and stories. Kim Senklip Harvey’s play is a boundary-blurring adventure that will remind you to always dance like the ancestors are watching.
Cast of three Indigenous women.
Biography
Kim Senklip Harvey is a proud Syilx and Tsilhqot’in and an Indigenous theorist, a cultural evolutionist and an award-winning writer and director whose work focusses on igniting Indigenous power by creating comedic and joy-centered narratives that nourish her people’s spirits. She is currently working on the development of two television series: her Salish love story, On the Plateau, and the adaptation of her play, Kamloopa. She is also completing her first prose and poetry book, Interiors: A Collection of NDN Dirtbag Love Stories, and is in pre-production to film a musical feature of her next artistic ceremony, Break Horizons: A Rocking Indigenous Justice Ceremony. She holds a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Victoria and will be starting a PhD in law in the fall of 2021. All her work is created out of respect for her Ancestors and for the future generations—to whom so much is owed. Kim Senklip Harvey lives on the unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō, Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) and Kwantlen peoples’ Nations.
Media partners
The Canada Council for the Arts thanks the GGBooks media partners for contributing to the promotion of literature from Canada.
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