shalan joudry
poet, storyteller, singer, artist
Elapultiek
Photo by Macky Schwartz
(ehl-ah-bool-dee-egg) -
"we are looking towards"
shalan's first full-length play, written and performed in 2018 and 2019.
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Synopsis: A young Mi’kmaw drum singer and a Euro-Nova Scotian biologist meet at dusk each day to count a population of endangered Chimney Swifts. As the relationship deepens over time, they struggle with their differing views of the world. Each ‘count night’ reveals a deeper complexity of connection to land, history, and ecology, and of reconciliation on a personal level.
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​A typical performance is about 75 minutes. Originally created for outdoors and around the fire, this show can also be adapted for an indoor performance in-the-round (audience in a circle around the two actors) or stage setting.
The show was a great success during Two Planks and a Passion Theatre's 2018 summer season and subsequent tour in the fall of 2019.
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Plans are in the works for an Atlantic Canada tour fall 2023
Elapultiek
"I think part of the message of this play, and part of what we all have to learn to do is listen more powerfully," from Elapultiek director, Ken Schwartz, Two Planks and A Passion Theatre.
“Being non-indigenous, the experience of seeing the Mi’kmaw play Elapultiek is both illuminating and warming...joudry’s quiet passion is clear in both her words and her acting as Nat, who is feisty but falters when the odds are stacked against her.” Elissa Barnard, NS reviews
Elapultiek was commissioned and first produced by Two Planks and a Passion Theatre and opened at the Ross Creek Centre for the Arts in Canning, Nova Scotia, Mi’kma’ki on
August 25th, 2018 with the following cast and crew:
Natawintoq: shalan joudry
Bill: Matthew Lumley
Director: Ken Schwartz
Drum Singer: shalan joudry
Stage Manager: Robin Munro
Dramaturge: Matthew Lumley