Bears

February 28 – March 17 2019, Mainspace Theatre

#ftBears

Running Time: 90 minutes
Recommended for ages 16+

Written and Directed by Matthew MacKenzie

Factory presents an Alberta Aboriginal Performing Arts and Punctuate! Theatre production

As the prime suspect in a workplace accident, Floyd flees through the Rockies to escape the clutches of the RCMP. On his riveting journey westward to the Pacific, Floyd looks back on his childhood, meets some unlikely companions, and undergoes a startling transformation. A love letter to nature and critique of the devastating consequences of industrial expansion, Bears is a wild multi-disciplinary adventure.

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Bears will leave you breathless
NOW Magazine

Star Star Star Half star
Bears combines ingenuity, humour, and a powerful message
Toronto Star

Star Star Star Half star
A highly entertaining evening at the theatre
The Globe and Mail

Pictured: Sheldon Elter. Environmental Design by T. Erin Gruber, Photo by Alexis McKeown.

L to R: Christine Sokaymoh Frederick, Sheldon Elter. Environmental Design by T. Erin Gruber, Photo by Alexis McKeown.

About the Playwright/Director

Matthew MacKenzie

Matthew Mackenzie is a multi-award winning and Sterling nominated playwright. Among his awards and recognition are the National Theatre School’s Lieutenant Governor’s award for excellence and community involvement, Tarragon Theatre’s Top Emerging Playwright Award (2012), and he was the 2010 Grand Prize recipient of the 44th Alberta Playwriting Competition. Matthew has had nearly a dozen of his works produced in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, and New York. Since the 2014 theatre season, Matthew has had 8 professional premieres of his work across Canada.

In 1841, MacKenzie’s great, great, great kokom Kisiskaciwan passed through Alberta. For three days, as her party stocked up on supplies, she sat by the North Saskatchewan River—her namesake, and cried. An Englishman recorded in his account of the journey that Kisiskaciwan had the same veneration for the North Saskatchewan as those of the Hindu faith do for the Ganges. This historical account led MacKenzie to write Bears.