A very liberal contemporary couple—Angel, an urban Native science fiction writer, and Colleen, a “non-practising” Jewish intellectual who teaches Native literature—hosts a dinner party. The guests at this little “sitcom” soirée are couples that represent what by now have become the clichéd extremes of both societies: Angel’s former radical Native activist buddies and Colleen’s environmentally concerned vegetarian / veterinarian friends. The menu is, of course, the hosts’ respectful attempt at shorthand for the irreconcilable cultural differences about to come to a head during the evening: moose roast and vegetarian lasagna.
Like all of Drew Hayden Taylor’s work, alterNatives manages to say things about “Whites and Indians” that one is not supposed to talk about—it digs up the carefully buried, raw and pulsing nerve-endings of the unspeakable and exposes them to the hot bright lights of the stage. That he does so with a humour that the politically correct among his audiences continue to miss entirely beneath the sound and fury of their own self-righteous indignation is a measure of his immense talent as a dramatist. In the end, the play is not about cultural differences at all, but instead constitutes a full frontal attack on the personal qualities the sitcom holds most dear and pushes hardest at its audiences: Taylor actually has the temerity to suggest that neither “attitude” nor “sincerity” are enough to address basic human issues, no matter which side of the cultural fence the characters are on. And that’s hard for the pushers of what is considered a globally enlightened culture to take.
Cast of 3 women and 3 men.

Ojibway writer Drew Hayden Taylor is from the Curve Lake Reserve in Ontario. Hailed by the Montreal Gazette as one of Canada’s leading Native dramatists, he writes for the screen as well as the stage and contributes regularly to North American Native periodicals and national NEWSpapers. His plays have garnered many prestigious awards, and his beguiling and perceptive storytelling style has enthralled audiences in Canada, the United States and Germany. His 1998 play Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth has been anthologized in Seventh Generation: An Anthology of Native American Plays, published by the Theatre Communications Group. Although based in Toronto, Taylor has travelled extensively throughout North America, honouring requests to read from his work and to attend arts festivals, workshops and productions of his plays. He was also invited to Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute in California, where he taught a series of seminars on the depiction of Native characters in fiction, drama and film. One of his most established bodies of work includes what he calls the Blues Quartet, an ongoing, outrageous and often farcical examination of Native and non-Native stereotypes.

Drew Hayden Taylor's profile page

“Taylor, who has been accused of denigrating Native people on the one hand and ‘witless white-bashing’ on the other, has in alterNatives created a deft piece of Canadian social satire that should generate heated discussion.”
—CBRA

“By turns thought provoking and hilariously funny, alterNatives unerringly skewers both liberal and Native stereotypes. Perhaps more importantly, alterNatives is a great read.”
—Calgary Sun

“alterNatives is pure hilarity with some serious social punch.”
—Scene

alterNatives

This play centres on a dinner party hosted by Colleen and Angel. Colleen is a non-practicing Jewish professor of Aboriginal studies and her companion Angel, an Ojibwa, is a writer of science fiction. Angel is no longer interested in his Aboriginal background. Colleen, however, is so absorbed in her studies that she is only interested in showing off her Ojibwan boyfriend. Colleen invites her friends Michelle and Dale who are environmentalists and vegetarians and two of Angel’s old friends to the gathering—Yvonne and Bobby who are the alterNatives, radical Aboriginal activists. As the six begin to interact, it becomes clear that the company is not compatible, just like Colleen’s dinner of moose roast and vegetable lasagna—and the sparks fly. Taylor, a keen observer of the human condition, has written an entertaining and thought-provoking social satire.

Taylor has won many awards, including the Chalmers Canadian Play Award for Best Play for a Young Audience.

Caution: Some coarse language.