Toronto at Dreamer's Rock - Education is Our Right
- Publisher
- Fifth House Books
- Initial publish date
- Sep 1990
- Category
- Canadian
- Recommended Age
- 14
- Recommended Grade
- 9
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9780920079645
- Publish Date
- Sep 1990
- List Price
- $12.95
Classroom Resources
Where to buy it
Description
In these two plays, Drew Taylor delves into the past and speculates about the future as he examines the dilemmas facing young Native Canadians today.
Toronto at Dreamer's Rock is a moving portrayal of a teenage boy who is torn between the traditions of his people, which he only vaguely understands, and the lure of modern life. His magical encounters with two members of his tribe - one from 400 years in the past and one from the future - make him aware of how little he has thought about what it means to be an Indian.
Education is Our Right borrows from the familiar story of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, but in this version the spirits of Education Past, Present and Future attempt to show the Minister of Indian Affairs the error of his ways.
Drew Taylor combines humour, passion, spirituality, and tough realism to create a hopeful vision of the future that will appeal especially to young adult readers. Both plays have toured extensively to schools in Ontario and Quebec.
About the author
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.
Librarian Reviews
Toronto at Dreamer’s Rock & Education is Our Right: Two One-Act Plays
Drew Hayden Taylor, one of Canada’s foremost playwrights, writes plays that are both funny and profound. This is a collection of two one-act plays. Both pieces employ the device of having characters that visit from the past, present and future. The first focuses on alcohol abuse, while the second, which is patterned after Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, is historical. Some elements may seem dated (e.g., Bay City Rollers, a character’s Walkman), the characters and their concerns are timeless. Taylor explores important themes, such as taking pride in one’s identity, language and traditions.Caution: Whites are portrayed in a negative light.
Source: The Association of Book Publishers of BC. Canadian Aboriginal Books for Schools. 2008-2009.
