Ki'kwa'ju and the Birds

 

Ki'kwa'ju and the Birds is a re-imagining of Sergei Prokofiev's famous orchestral fairytale, Peter and the Wolf. Created for both stage and film, this is a collaboration between a large circle of Mi'kmaw artists, settler orchestral musicians, and Xara Choral Theatre.  

 

Re-purposing music from Peter and the Wolf, this dynamic group of artists bring to life a traditional Mi'kmaw teaching story about two wolverine brothers and a gaggle of birds. Just as Prokofiev used a tale about animals and people to introduce the instruments of the orchestra to children, the Mi’kmaq have a long tradition of teaching history, values, and practices to children through stories of animals and people. 

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A team of Mi'kmaw storytellers have collaborated to adapt the traditional story so it is ready for the stage and has a large enough cast of characters to bridge with Prokofiev's music. Now, a larger circle of artists, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous are working together to deconstruct and reweave the orchestral score to suit the contours of the story of Ki'kwa'ju and the Birds.

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A staged reading of the script was performed in December, 2021 in collaboration with Dalhousie University's Fountain School of Performing Arts. The fully realized production will be released as a film with an accompanying educational guide in 2022.

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