Tom Wilson's memoir-turned-musical brings 'celebration of Indigenous identity' to Hamilton stage
CBC
When Mohawk artist Tom Wilson was writing his best-selling memoir Beautiful Scars, he'd often read passages out loud to himself, to hear how they sounded "in the air."
This week, Wilson will watch actors sing some of those same words to hundreds of people — as the musical inspired by his memoir, and of the same name, premiers at Hamilton's Theatre Aquarius on April 24.
"Hearing them emoted from people who have been generous enough to give everything they've got to every word, man, that's an emotional journey and one that I wasn't expecting," the homegrown music icon told CBC Hamilton.
Creating the musical in Hamilton was a natural fit, said Wilson.
His hometown has inspired his rock music and art for decades. As chronicled in his memoir, Wilson was raised on East 36th Street by a couple who he later discovered were not his biological parents.
The musical will follow Wilson as he discovers his Indigenous heritage and then traces his roots back to the Mohawk Nation of Kahnawà:ke, just south of Montreal.
"I'm offering to the theatre a celebration of Indigenous identity and celebration of self-discovery," Wilson said.
"It rarely happens. The Indigenous world does not necessarily feel welcome in the theatre experience mainly because it is such a deeply, deeply rooted colonial institution."
The play will be among the first "unapologetically Indigenous" autobiographical musicals in the country, said Mary Francis Moore, Theatre Aquarius's artistic director, who's also directing Beautiful Scars.
When she first read the book in 2017, she said she was not only "shocked and blown away by the story" but also convinced it was made to be a musical.
"Tom is such a poet and words of his books feel like lyrics sometimes and you just kind of felt this musical underscore," Moore said. "You feel music in every story he tells."
Wilson has been a member of Canadian bands like Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, Junkhouse and currently Lee Harvey Osmond, but he was clear he didn't want the play to become a rock star biopic, said Moore.
Instead, Wilson's character, played by Métis actor Sheldon Elter, finds himself in different situations where he's flooded by visuals, music and memories that eventually lead him to the truth, Moore said.
Wilson created the musical alongside Shaun Smyth, an actor born in Glasgow and raised in Calgary. Wilson also wrote the musical score, while his son Thompson Wilson Shaw, 31, plays the younger version of Wilson.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
A suspended Moncton structural engineer faces more lawsuits alleging design flaws in buildings that require repair.
Sajjade Tugano has come a long way since he first set foot in Chibougamau, six hours north of Quebec City, in the depths of winter in November 2021.
A national mentor-based hockey organization that helps marginalized youth through the sport is paying tribute to one of its members and youngest coaches.
After months of asking the City of Saskatoon to do more to solve its homelessness crisis, advocate David Fineday took to the stand at city council Tuesday.
A community organization wants to breathe new life into a historic building in Regina.
Some Prince County residents are walking away with more answers after attending Tuesday night's public information session in Albany, P.E.I., on the Wejipek Wind Project.
After just a few months of using vape detectors in a couple of bathrooms, a B.C. high school principal says it's reduced vape use in those areas to basically zero.
Burlington MP Karina Gould gets boost from local young people after entering Liberal leadership race
A day after entering the Liberal leadership race, Burlington, Ont., MP and government House leader Karina Gould was cheered at a campaign launch party by local residents — including young people expressing hope the 37-year-old politician will represent their voices.
Anold Mulaisho was born intersex and wonders where they fit in, in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order for the United States to recognize only two sexes, male and female.
WARNING: This story contains references to suicide.
Subway service is down on Line 1 between Sheppard West and Lawrence West due to a broken power rail, the TTC said Wednesday morning.
A long-term care home in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood has cleared one more hurdle to add desperately needed beds to its property, a move that's been praised by housing advocates but opposed by locals concerned about the impact on the neighbourhood.
A Charlottetown resident is calling on the P.E.I. government to do more to protect homeowners after reading about a recent oil spill very similar to one on his Montague property 20 years ago, which he says ruined him financially.
WARNING: This story includes details of abuse.
Two years after Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly declared she was taking the unprecedented step of moving to confiscate millions of dollars from a sanctioned Russian oligarch with assets in Canada, the government has not actually begun the court process to forfeit the money, let alone to hand it over to Ukrainian reconstruction — and it may never happen.
Alberta business and oilpatch leaders are returning home from Washington this week after the U.S. presidential inauguration festivities — and gritting their teeth after a roller-coaster of emotions.
Youth workers in Toronto's Jane and Finch area are flipping the script on negative stereotypes about their communities with a new fundraising campaign that offers anti-bias training in exchange for donations to bolster their programming.
In a sudden move that came late Tuesday evening, city officials rolled out cots and temporarily opened a warm building in east London as frigid temperatures continued.