Theatre of Fire: a history

Theatre of Fire was created to communicate a broad range of human experience through a unique combination of original, restored, and traditional music, audio testimoniahls, sound collages, video, and visual art.

Theatre of Fire presented its first production, entitled Remembering Steel Skies Raining Tears, at the Rothstein Theatre in Vancouver. Remembering Steel Skies Raining Tears is a music and multimedia production that honours child survivors of the Holocaust. The production transmits their message of hope, resilience, and love.

In 2011, Drew Ann Wake contacted three First Nations in the Northwest Territories to ask whether they were interested in copies of hundreds of audio tapes of interviews and drumming she had recorded over fifty years in the North. The answer was unequivocal: “Yes!”

Theatre of Fire volunteered to digitize the materials. That opened a conversation with Chief Gerry Antoine of the Liidlii Kue First Nation in Fort Simpson, who suggested that the historic tapes could be used to train young people old drum songs. This sparked a unique collaboration. Theatre of Fire has made two journeys to the Northwest Territories and has participated in composing a multimedia musical work: “Dehcho: A Musical Journey along the Mackenzie River”.

The intermingling of these elements creates a bold, deeply moving, and original work of both social and artistic significance.