Toronto at Dreamers Rock

by Drew Hayden Taylor

In these two plays, Drew Taylor delves into the past and speculates about the future as he examines the dilemmas facing young Native Canadians today.

Toronto at Dreamer's Rock is a moving portrayal of a teenage boy who is torn between the traditions of his people, which he only vaguely understands, and the lure of modern life. His magical encounters with two members of his tribe - one from 400 years in the past and one from the future - make him aware of how little he has thought about what it means to be an Indian.

Education is Our Right borrows from the familiar story of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, but in this version the spirits of Education Past, Present and Future attempt to show the Minister of Indian Affairs the error of his ways.

Drew Taylor combines humour, passion, spirituality, and tough realism to create a hopeful vision of the future that will appeal especially to young adult readers. Both plays have toured extensively to schools in Ontario and Quebec.

Genres: Plays, Indigenous, Canada, Fiction, Theatre, Drama, Read For School

144 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1990

About the author

During the last thirty years of his life, Drew Hayden Taylor has done many things, most of which he is proud of. An Ojibway from the Curve Lake First Nations in Ontario, he has worn many hats in his literary career, from performing stand-up comedy at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., to being Artistic Director of Canada's premiere Native theatre company, Native Earth Performing Arts. He has been an award-winning playwright (with over 70 productions of his work), a journalist/columnist (appearing regularly in several Canadian newspapers and magazines), short-story writer, novelist, television scriptwriter, and has worked on over 17 documentaries exploring the Native experience. Most notably, he wrote and directed REDSKINS, TRICKSTERS AND PUPPY STEW, a documentary on Native humour for the National Film Board of Canada.

He has traveled to sixteen countries around the world, spreading the gospel of Native literature to the world. Through many of his books, most notably the four volume set of the FUNNY, YOU DON'T LOOK LIKE ONE series, he has tried to educate and inform the world about issues that reflect, celebrate, and interfere in the lives of Canada's First Nations.

Self described as a contemporary story teller in what ever form, last summer saw the production of the third season of MIXED BLESSINGS, a television comedy series he co-created and is the head writer for. This fall, a made-for-tv movie he wrote, based on his Governor General's nominated play was nominated for three Gemini Awards, including Best Movie. Originally it aired on APTN and opened the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco, and the Dreamspeakers Film Festival in Edmonton.

The last few years has seen him proudly serve as the Writer-In-Residence at the University of Michigan and the University of Western Ontario. In 2007, Annick Press published his first Novel, THE NIGHT WANDERER: A Native Gothic Novel, a teen novel about an Ojibway vampire. Two years ago, his non-fiction book exploring the world of Native sexuality, called ME SEXY, was published by Douglas & McIntyre. It is a follow up to his highly successful book on Native humour, ME FUNNY.

The author of 20 books in total, he is eagerly awaiting the publication of his new novel in February by Random House as "One of the new faces of fiction for 2010", titled MOTORCYCLES AND SWEETGRASS. In January, his new play, DEAD WHITE WRITER ON THE FLOOR, opens at Magnus Theatre in Thunder Bay. Currently, he is working on a new play titled CREES IN THE CARRIBEAN, and a collection of essays called POSTCARDS FROM THE FOUR DIRECTIONS. More importantly, he is desperately trying to find the time to do his laundry.

Oddly enough, the thing his mother is most proud of is his ability to make spaghetti from scratch.

Reviews

[Liel · Rating 3 out of 5]

kind of ate

[Dr. Devine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toronto at Dreamer's Rock: 4/5
A funny and sentimental look at honouring the past and changing the present to affect the future.

Education is Our Right: 3/5

A bit heavy-handed and obvious, but funny. A decent satire about the federal government's indifference towards First Nations' issues and the impact it has on them.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't read a lot of a plays, but was at Curve Lake and thought this looked interesting. Oh my goodness! This guy is hilarious. Hilarious with a purpose. I can't wait to pick up his other works. I liked both plays but preferred Toronto at Dreamers Rock. The interactions between the characters were rich and meaningful while not seeming too out there. Considering the story, that's saying something.

[Lotuslulu · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading both these plays and hope to be able to either one staged at some point to hear how a variety of emotion, pause, and finessing of language might imbue a little more engagement into these rather sparse lines. The characters felt a little one note on the page ( and I wasn’t helped by the fact the voice I heard in my heard for each character was Hayden Taylor’s LOL) .

For teachers, I think while the second play would be far better for in class reading because it has more parts, and interesting development. The allusions and politics at the heart of the plot are so dated now, it would be a tough sell. Also, reading out loud a character that is meant to be the stereotypical, pan indigenous, indigenous person of the old west could feel wrong and politically charged ( even though that’s the point) for a class readers theatre. This leaves Toronto at Dreamers Rock a possibility, but it’s teen protagonists feel fake with forced dialogue, so even though it is full of relevant, topical,conversation starters, I’d steer towards one of Hayden Taylor’s newer plays like Acts of a Gentrified Rebellion.

[Jessa Lee Mercedes Melo · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my classes is currently studying Toronto at Dreamer’s Rock and I read it with the intention of being able to better support students and along the way ended up truly enjoying this play. I decided to read the other play today and also loved Education is Our Right. Toronto at Dreamer’s Rock is a fictional play that portrays some of the issues First Nations people have faced in the past, present and future through three Odawa boys of the same age that are brought together to protect the future of their people. Education is Our Right is based on true events surrounding the decision for C.O.P.S.S.E and the effects it had on First Nations communities. I appreciate the author writing these plays to enlighten the general public on complex issues that a large group of people face that white people should not be making decisions on. I will be doing more research into the C.O.P.S.S.E policy and what happened to it, as this has intrigued me and I’m curious to know where we are at today with this decision!

[Kristine Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A play about a boy named Rusty who ventures up to Dreamer's Rock, a traditionally spiritual place, to be alone and drink beer only to be visited by Keesic, a boy from the past and later Michael, a boy from the future. They converse about the changes in how First Nations culture, traditions, and lifestyle. All are First Nations themselves. What emerges is the idea that we are currently in an extremely dysfunctional period with a confused worldview. From the viewpoint of Michael, we will become more 'precise' and 'logical' in the future, but it is Keesic's intuition and sense of belonging that emerge as the most appealing of the three. A thought-provoking, sometimes funny, one-act play.

[Vivian Zenari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two politically charged plays issue a call for action. The plays assume both a white and an indigenous audience. I liked Toronto at Dreamer’s Walk at bit more because of the staging and the characterization of the three on-stage characters. The second play is a variant of the first but with a more specific agenda: criticism of a specific Federal statute. The first one, though, seems very playable even now.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although written almost 30 years ago and although some of the things are dated - it still speaks so clearly. I especially enjoyed Toronto at Dreamer's Rock.

[Clivemichael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant slice of reality

[jodie ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

this play was lowkey all over the place. it had so much potential though.

[Griffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-read for school

[Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was quite funny, good message!

[Harlowe Archive's · Rating 4 out of 5]

This play was super fun, especially to read once at face value and then once again, diving deeper into the meaning, symbolism, and cultural aspects of Canadian Indigenous peoples. It is a good balance of teaching lessons without being preachy.
8.5/10

[The_Mad_Swede · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second play by Canadian First Nation playwright Drew Hayden Taylor that I have had the opportunity to read (right on the coat tails of the first one I read) and actually his first.

Unlike The Berlin Blues (which is the other play I've read), Toronto at Dreamer's Rock is a much less humourous piece (though not without humour) and more strikingly dramatic. Set on Dreamer's Rock, Whitefish River (Birch Island) Reserve, Ontario, the play presents an uncanny meeting between three sixteen year old Ojibway (well some only partly Ojibway, but still Ojibway for sure) boys. There is Rusty who climbs the peak "on a lazy Saturday afternoon during the summer of 1989", just looking for some time alone and to drink a few Labatts Blue (i.e. beer). But on the peak he encounters Keesic who at first can only speak Odawa/Ojibway (which Rusty doesn't speak) but who "learns" English as if by magic when he and Rusty touch each other. And Keesic is a pre-contact Odawa/Ojibway.

Later on the Ojibway of times past and present also encounter the Ojibway of times future (more precisely 1 May, 2095), in the shape a boy named Michael.

The play is all about these three boys comparing notes, as it were, on being Ojibway, what that means, and how time affects such definitions in various way. As such the play comes across not only as a good First Nation play (which it most definitely seems to be, from where I'm sitting), but also about more "universal" notion of what it means to be human in times that are ever changing, how we as people deal with who we are, who we (through our ancestors) were and who we (through our descendants) will be.

And it is all the more impressive that this golden nugget was Drew Hayden Taylor's first venture as a playwright.

This German edition (in English, mind you) also includes an interesting foreword by the author as well as four additional texts previously published in magazines/newspapers between 1991-1993: "Pretty Like a White Boy: The Adventures of a Blue-Eyed Ojibway", "Climbing onto the Bandwagon", "An Indian by Any Other Name", Powwows, They Are A' Changin'".

Warmly recommended! For my own part I am going to look up which other plays by this particular playwright are readily available in the bookshops.

[Nykea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Past, present, and future merging in the shape of three teenage boys of Native heritage. Good short play to be used in a classroom for First Nations content, touches on loss of culture and a bright future.

[Emily Andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

drew hayden taylor is very poignant in his writing. even his plays are good when read; he makes it easy to make the scenes in your imagination. I preferred education is our right to Toronto at dreamer's rock, just for the extra bit of comedy added.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I should re-read this book one day. I barely remember the story but whenever it comes to my mind I feel the overwhelming effect it had on me.