Miles Morrisseau
ICT
Aunties took over opening night of the Winnipeg Fringe Festival with a sold-out show that left the audience laughing and cheering in appreciation.
Author and actress Jo MacDonald, Anishinaabe, wrote the play and also stars as Auntie Lena, one of a trio of aunties who not only host their own podcast, “The Auntie Show,” but re-enact the tales. Tracey Nepinak, Peguis First Nation, plays Auntie Helen and Judy Arnason plays Auntie Mel.
MacDonald says it’s time to listen to the aunties.
“Because they have all that knowledge to share. They have all you know, so much to give. And they have experience,” Macdonald told ICT right after the show premiered on July 16 in Winnipeg. “And they know how to handle uncles.”
The show brings that big, auntie energy with plenty of heart, soul and, of course, laughter.
MacDonald laughs and jokes as if “The Auntie Show” continues in real life, which of course, it does. She says she drew her inspiration from the people she knows.
“Oh, just from some of the women I hang out with, and they’re crazy,” she said, laughing. “They’re crazy, their stories and stuff.”
The play premiered at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, a theater festival that takes over the city’s theatre and exchange district for two weeks and showcases a variety of theatrical formats from one-act, one-person shows on the street to elaborate three-act plays on the city’s finest stages.
The show is produced by Broken Record Productions and is directed by Ryan Osodo. It is featured in a small venue within the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre that allows entrance from a back alley.
The Winnipeg Fringe was founded as part of the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre in 1988 and currently ranks as the second-largest event of its kind in North America. Every year, the festival welcomes over 150 theatre companies from all over the world to present independent theatre to appreciative audiences. The festival continues until July 27.
In their very nature, Fringe festivals expect the creators to push beyond the normal boundaries of story or structure, and the audience is along for the ride.
‘Ain’t just talking bannock’
“The Auntie Show” is centered around a format we are all too familiar with, a podcast. The play shows the aunties producing their podcast of the same name, then allows them to move into the reality of what they are discussing. They take a shot at Joe Rogan and the so-called manosphere with the knowledge that we have heard way too much of those voices.
The discussion then launches into a variety of skits that hit so many pop culture tropes, such as “Superhero” and heist movies, and reality TV. It even takes a shot at the Bering Strait Theory with the Indigenous aunties declaring, “We have always been here.”
There is talk of love and soul mates and a whole lot of truth mixed in with the laughter. The aunties know that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.
Any premise can work; the key to the whole thing is who can make it work. A recipe for Bannock doesn’t guarantee a good Bannock. How does each part mix and move and match with each other? To be real, some of the jokes may be a bit stale. A little slack. Yeah, I said it. But the way the aunties say it – they say it like the aunties say it.
The play’s tagline, in fact, puts it into perspective: “Aunties. Ever good. And ain’t just talking bannock!”
The performers are clearly having fun. They are playing off each other and the characters and the audience, and it is all so fun and so real.
“It was a lot of fun. And the nerves were there, but, like, I forgot how much I love doing the Fringe,” Nepinak told ICT. “One of the reasons I love doing the Fringe is I love Jo MacDonald’s writing, and I can’t get enough of it.”
Sassy perspective
Nepinak is one of Manitoba’s most respected theatre artists, appearing in numerous shows including the iconic “Rez Sisters.” She can also be seen in the APTN comedy, “Acting Good.”
She credits the writing for making “The Auntie Show” so good, and gives all credit to MacDonald.
“I’m one of her fans,” Nepinak said. “She’s the one that comes up with all these crazy things, and they’re not so crazy.”
MacDonald has created an incredible storytelling vehicle that creates a space to comment on current, future and past realities from a sassy, contemporary Indigenous woman’s perspective.
When asked whether there may be more “Auntie” shows in the future. MacDonald responds with both a joke and a very serious proposition.
“Well, hey, if somebody wants to pick it up and make it a series,” she said. “Netflix? Hello?”