CIVILIZED
CIVILIZED
In 1907, the Canadian government learned that their Indian Residential Schools were “dangerous to health” with “Indian boys and girls dying,” yet they did nothing. Why? In the words of bureaucrat William
Blank, “We did it for you.”
Arisen from the grave to prove to the audience that the ends justify the means, Blank, a composite of Canadian officials of the time, is the sole character in Keir Cutler’s 60-minute one-act Civilized, and he has a lot to say. Charming, charismatic, cultured, conniving, and cunning, he is embodied by John D. Huston, a Métis actor who’s made a career out of “culturally misappropriating the works and identities of dead white guys,” who brings a touch of trickster energy to the role. Is he simply a well-intentioned fool, or something more sinister?
Playwright Keir Cutler (he/him) is a Montrealer and writer/performer of ten solo shows; four of which aired on Bravo!Canada. Cutler has performed his own work across North America and at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London, UK, as well as appearing in many film and television productions (The Audrey Hepburn Story, Brad’s Status). He is a scholar, with a Ph.D. in theatre from Wayne State University and a playwriting diploma from the National Theatre School, and the author of several books, including Shakespeare Authorship Question: A Crackpot’s View. www.keircutler.com
Actor John D. Huston (he/him), a member of Canada’s Métis Nation from Winnipeg, has had a lively career “culturally misappropriating the works and identities of dead white guys,” including playing Tommy Douglas in Saskatchewan, William Lyon MacKenzie in Toronto, Shakespeare in England, and Charles Dickens across Canada. Huston portrayed Louis Riel in both the 50th anniversary production of Canada’s longest running dramatic presentation, The Trial of Louis Riel, and the CBC’s Ideas episode, “Sir John A. MacDonald on Trial for Crimes Against Humanity.”
Designer Jay Havens (he/him/they) is a multi-media 2Spirit artist, educator, and collaborator of Kanien’keha’ka and Scottish ancestry. Havens works in site-specific performance and installation, murals, projections and sculptural artworks for galleries, museums, gardens, and public spaces around the world, including New York and Prague. Over their 20-year career, project highlights include projection mapping animations on Stratford City Hall, a floating artwork in the Toronto harbour called The Peacemaker’s Canoe, and a mural on the windows of the Vancouver Opera house. Havens teaches at the University of Waterloo. www.jayhavens.me
Director Paul Hopkins (he/him) has been working in Canadian film, television, and theatre for over 25 years. His career spans theatres across Canada (Stratford Festival, Theatre Calgary, Centaur Theatre); numerous roles on screen (Disney’s Zombies 1,2,3, Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City), staging and filming Opera Laurier’s 2021 production of Dialogue des Carmélites by Francis Poulenc; and 8 years as the Artistic and Executive Director of Montreal’s Shakespeare in the Park, Repercussion Theatre. Hopkins was a 2013 finalist for the Christopher Plummer Fellowship Award of Excellence, for his contributions to Shakespeare and the classics in performance. www.jpaulhopkins.com
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