crosscurrents

Show me your beaver teeth! Slap that mosquito! La laine des moutons, c'est nous qui la filaines! Preschoolers and elementary grades sing along in Gaelic, English, French, Ojibwa, and Inuktitut, and act out animal tales from the many cultures of the fur trade.

Were there really women voyageurs? What was it like to be one? Lisette's biography traces a personal line through historic events, from the discovery of the Pacific and the corporate merger of the fur empires to the coming of the Industrial Revolution and Canadian Confederation. A feminist retelling of the traditional legend of Lac Qu'Appelle grapples with social issues of teen pregnancy, racism, and abortion as documented in Daniel Harmon's journal, while framing the real Lisette's decision…

This magical story is the great-grandpère of voyageur folktales. A solo retelling can involve a participatory audience on the fly, or we can rehearse a group of interpreters for a full cast performance of improvisational interp theatre. The script (English only, so far) is just the starting point for a wild ride from your site to Old Montreal and back again.

"How did you learn to do all that?" Standard seasonal interpretive training teaches techniques of guided walks, house tours, prop talks, craft demos, and first- vs. third-person roleplays. Schools use these methods both with teachers and with students. Sites add drama and music with skilled volunteers/staff, special events, community music programs, and interpretive theatre. Experiential elements come from overnight programs, hands-on activities, and sponsored trips--and from handcrafting cl…