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Drama Women Authors

Annie Mae's Movement

by (author) Yvette Nolan

Publisher
Playwrights Canada Press
Initial publish date
Sep 2006
Category
Women Authors, Canadian
Recommended Age
17
Recommended Grade
12
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781770913660
    Publish Date
    Sep 2006
    List Price
    $12.99
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780887549045
    Publish Date
    Sep 2006
    List Price
    $16.95

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Description

Annie Mae’s Movement explores what it must have been like to be Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, a woman in a man’s movement, a Canadian in America, an Aboriginal in a white-dominant culture at a time when it felt like we could really change the world.

Dying under mysterious circumstances, it is still unclear what really happened to Anna Mae back in the late 70s. Instead of recounting cold facts, this play looks for the truth in examining the life and death of this remarkable Aboriginal woman; that we cannot know the consequences of our actions; that we live on in the work that we do and the people we affect long after we have passed from this world.

About the author

Yvette Nolan is a playwright, dramaturge, and director. In 1996, she was the Aboriginal Writer-in-Residence at Brandon University, where she wrote the first draft of Annie Mae’s Movement. Her other plays include BLADE, Job’s Wife, Video, the libretto Hilda Blake, and the radio play Owen. She is also the editor of Beyond the Pale: Dramatic Writing from First Nations Writers and Writers of Colour and co-editor of Refractions: Solo and Refractions: Scenes. She was the president of Playwrights Union of Canada from 1998–2001, and of Playwrights Canada Press from 2003–2005. Born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan to an Algonquin mother and an Irish immigrant father, raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, she lived in the Yukon and Nova Scotia before moving to Toronto.

Yvette Nolan's profile page

Librarian Reviews

Annie Mae’s Movement

Based on Anna Mae Aquash‘s life, this play is not an historical account. Anna was a Mi’kmaq woman struggling with life, love and Aboriginal rights in the 1970s. She moved to the US and became involved in the Aboriginal movement AIM. This play concentrates on her attempts to find love in a time of much upheaval as she tries to help initiate change in US government policies. The play chronicles her involvement with Dennis Banks, her efforts at being a positive female leader in a male driven movement, and her subsequent interrogation not only by the FBI but by AIM members themselves. Throughout this process, she is haunted by a Rugaru, a werewolf, who is not only a figment of her imagination but also represents her belief that she will be the victim of her own choices.

Nolan’s other plays include BLADE, Job’s Wife and Video.

Caution: Contains some coarse language and mentions rape.

Source: The Association of Book Publishers of BC. Canadian Aboriginal Books for Schools. 2008-2009.