Margo Kane's play Moonlodge still mesmerizing

Moonlodge is a show that Margo Kane has performed thousands of times. The very thought makes her laugh.

"It's an old show; it's seven years old," she said. "People really like the show and I like it that people really like it. A teacher once told me 'A good story can be told forever."

The play, which Kane also wrote, chronicles the story of Agnes, a Cree woman, from when she was taken from her home as a child until her rediscovery of her roots at a powwow in the United States.

"It's a challenge as an actor when you know the show so well. You keep trying to find new and fresh things in it," she said. "It's an incredible piece to perform. You learn so much by telling the same story."

Presented in part by the students from the Native Communications program and the Theatre Production Program, Kane mesmerized the 100 audience members in the Conference Theatre at the downtown campus of Grant MacEwan Community College in Edmonton on Feb. 4.

It is a play that has grown and developed over the years, since its premiere at the Women in View Festival in 1990. Despite its popularity, Kane confesses that she might put the piece "to bed" so she can concentrate on creating and developing new work.

"I'm an artist. The artist side of me keeps pushing me to find a new and creative ways of doing things," said Kane.

Kane, of Cree, Saulteux and Blackfoot heritage, is a multi-disciplinary artist and a major figure in Native performing arts. Over the past 20 years she has been recognized as a storyteller, dancer, singer, animator, video and installation artist, director, producer, writer and teacher. Kane has acted on television, film and radio-including a radio adaptation of Moonlodge..She has performed her work in theatres, galleries and communities nationwide.

"I kept training and trying different things. I work quite interdisciplinary," she said. "I can use all those skills because, in order to be a performer at that time, it was important that you could sing, dance and act to work. Now, I create my work. The difficulty is training in all those skills all the time to keep them honed."

She was recognized as a major artist with a Canadian Achievement Award in 1991, and in 1994 her work was included in Celebrations, the inaugural exhibition for the site of the National Museum of the American Indian.

Despite her years as an artist and the acclaim she has received, she still finds it difficult to find support for the work she is doing. Part of the reason is her constant quest for something new, which means pushing the limits of conventional art, theatre and dance. But she needs to create work that allows her to use her many different skills.

"I'm trying to create a company and my own way of working. I seek to create work that uses all of myself. We're kind of the pioneers in this area. It takes a lot of time to pull it all together," she said. "If you take the path whereby you take work that the mainstream will want to produce, then you have to play according to their rules. You can go that route, but that's not really my deal. I know the systems and I don't want to work there."

Even though this can be discouraging, she still keeps working at bringing new work to life.

"I would say that you have to believe in what you're doing." said Kane.

Part of the problem is that there are very few Aboriginal people who have an idea of what she's talking about in the arts. Therefore, she has to go outside the Aboriginal community to find people with whom to collaborate.

Kane graduated from Grand MacEwan Community College's dance program in 1975 and was presented with the college's Distinguished Alumni Award in 1993.

The Sterling Awards are presented to theatre artists and productions in Alberta, and Kane received two Sterling nominations in 1993 for Moonlodge.