Falen Johnson
Falen Johnson is Mohawk and Tuscarora (Bear Clan) from Six Nations Grand River Territory. She is a writer and podcaster. Her plays include Salt Baby, Two Indians, and Ipperwash for which she received a Dora Nomination. Her writing has been featured in Brick, The Canadian Theatre Review, and Granta Magazine. She co-hosts The Secret Life of Canada (CBC Podcasts) with Leah Simone Bowen and Unreserved (CBC Radio One). She has written for Urban Native Girl (APTN) and Merchants of the Wild (APTN) and the 2020 Inspire Awards.Falen was also named one of Maclean's "20 to watch in 2020."
Books (2)
Synopsis:
Growing up on the Six Nations native reserve, Salt Baby never quite fit in, as a “white” looking “Indian” — fair skin and curly hair made her more of a Shirley Temple type than a Pocahontas type. Salt Baby navigates the native reserve and the city while explaining herself, as well as her blood quantrum, to the world and to “Alligator”: “It’s always different for Indians.”
Reviews
“This hilarious and moving play explores the experience of being invisibly ethnic and raises questions about how we expect Aboriginal people to look.” —Toronto Arts Online
Additional Information
74 pages | 5.40" x 8.40"
Synopsis:
Win lives on the rez and Roe lives in the city, where she fled after a terrible family tragedy. After years apart, the two cousins reunite in a Toronto alley to recreate a ceremony from their childhood, but can they remember how? Has the world changed too much? Have they? When the words "missing and murdered," "truth and reconciliation," "occupation and resistance" are everywhere, how do two Mohawk women stand their ground? Falen Johnson"s powerful Two Indians is a darkly comedic look at the landscape of being Indigenous.
Reviews
"The volatile and unpredictable dynamic between Win and Roe shifts uneasily from familiar family nostalgia and hilarious-yet-revealing anecdotes to emotional accusations and intense confrontations that hinge on the reservation/city binary, and associated assumptions about First Nations identities." - NOW Magazine
"As a whole production, the show's such a rewarding entertainment that you'll hardly notice the politics sneaking up behind you. Whatever your background, so long as you come into the room with an open mind, you'll leave savvier, with a number of sticky points and difficult questions that'll rattle around in your head for days afterwards...This is a fun show with heart, energy, and a vital message..." -Mooney on Theatre
Educator Information
Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools resource collection as being useful for grades 11 and 12 for these subjects: Social Studies, Social Justice, English First Peoples, English, BC First Peoples, Contemporary Indigenous Studies, Drama, Theatre Company, Theatre Production, Directing and Script Development.
Content Warning: Coarse Language
Additional Information
72 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Paperback
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