A Rom-Com Warming Thunder Bay Hearts
By Taylor Onski
While November means shorter and colder days, Magnus Theatre has the warmth we all need during this time of year with Joelle Peters’s romantic comedy, Niizh.
“It’s a refreshing contemporary play about two young lovebirds leaving their nests or returning home,” says the play’s director Richard Comeau. “It’s a story anyone can relate to. There’s awkward moments, funny moments, serious moments, and moments that might bring a tear to your eye. But all in all, this is a story about love and all the different ways love can be expressed.”
Set during summertime on the rez, the play follows 18-year-old Lenna Little (Jaeli Bruno), who is getting ready to leave home and embark on her first year at Sheridan College, much to the dismay of her father and older brother. Amidst this pull of whether to stay or go, she runs into Sam Thomas, who has come back to the reserve with questions he needs answered. Needless to say, once these two meet, things will never be the same.
Comeau, last seen at Magnus as co-director and Louis Riel in Women of the Fur Trade, is excited to be back and be in the director’s chair for this heartwarming story. “I read Niizh a long time ago, and did the fight direction for its premiere at Native Earth. So directing at Magnus is a full circle moment for me. The fact I had my hand in the original production led me to say yes, especially at Magnus. I have roots there. So I’m kind of reestablishing myself in the Treaty Three area.”
For Peters, the award-winning Anishinaabekwe playwright, Niizh (which means “two” in Ojibwe) is a lot more than a story celebrating young love. It’s also a way to expand the canon of Indigenous stories not centred around trauma and colonization.
“Joelle put it really well in the script,” says Comeau. “She says, ‘This play began as a way for me to bring my voice to the world of romantic comedies. I needed to see people who looked like me, spoke like me, grew up in a community like mine fall in love. As the development continued, I discovered that the world of Niizh was far more expansive than I first imagined. It's a world that is deeply rooted in the love of land, of family, and self.’”
Catch Niizh at Magnus Theatre November 12–28. To purchase tickets, visit magnustheatre.com or call the box office at (807) 345-5552
