In a World Created by a Drunken God

by Drew Hayden Taylor

Jason Pierce, a 31 year old Canadian half-Native man, is packing up his urban apartment to leave it all behind for his romanticized vision of a return to life on the reserve where he grew up. As he’s leaving, he is paid an unexpected visit by a 34 year old American man, Harry Deiter, who awkwardly introduces himself as Jason’s half-brother. What Harry wants from Jason is to be compatibility-tested for a possible kidney donation to their dying non-Native father, a man Jason has no memory of ever meeting and who, after a brief and secret affair, abandoned Jason’s mother when he was two months old.

Both Jason and Harry are about to have their most fundamental and sustaining beliefs shaken to the core by their respective relationships to the biological father they inadvertently share. Harry, the naïve historical positivist, buoyed up by a lifetime of relative privilege as a member of the dominant imperial culture, encounters in Jason the anger and bitter resistance of the exploited and abandoned colonial, in terms of both Jason’s Native and his Canadian heritage and identity.

Embroiled in the irreconcilable absurdity of their dilemma, Harry is forced to acknowledge that the father he has loved and respected all his life has concealed from his American family his capacity for an absent, heartless cruelty. Jason, on the other hand, must wrestle with the possibility that the man who so thoughtlessly exploited and abandoned his Canadian Native mother and their son may in fact have the capacity to be a loving and present husband and father.

This play raises powerful questions that transcend issues of culture, morality and history―they cut to the ethical quick of what it means to be human in a chaotic world stripped of the comfortable security of identity politics.

Genres: Plays, Indigenous, Fiction

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

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

[Foxthyme · Rating 5 out of 5]

What happens when a dad you never knew sends a brother you didn't know existed to ask a big big favour? Drew hits all the nerves and fingerbiting moments with this riveting play.

[Cecily Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great play. I chose to study this play closely in my university class and there is so many little nuances of importance that opens up many lines of discussion opportunities. Though the play is between a white man and an Indigenous man that turn out to be half brothers, the story can extend beyond the cultural matters to also include familial obligation and how far that extends within the individual. The setting of the play is quite simple, the dialogue being the most important part. Great play, I would love to see it performed.

[ʚ safa ɞ · Rating 1 out of 5]

lol read it for school so

[adrienne · Rating 5 out of 5]

made me angry as hell. 10/10

[Nicole]

Pg.91
"Before the healing can begin the poison must be exposed."

This would be great for a book club discussion. What would you do in Jason's position?

[lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

i don’t care

[Julia Ludwig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful play that made me think of my own situation of being an adopted, native vietnamese, who grew up in Europe. I believe its an important topic to confront, not many can imagine what it would be like to be in such a situation...
It's simply a short and wonderful, in a sense of inciting play
I can only recommend it.

And having met Drew personally made the play all the more fun to read :)

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought provoking dramatic play. It ends without conclusion, but leaves you thinking.