of many youth who are expected to be spiritual icons, elegant near noble
savages, at the same time, young people endure very real obstacles to sim-
ple being. Disconnected from original being, we can all only imagine what
it might have been like to be an “Indian” a hundred and fifty years ago,
yet in the imagination of those we are surrounded by, there is an expec-
tation that we are still prayerful and ceremonious, full of old traditions.
This imagined being presents a major obstacle to young modern artists
like Darrell, as a Secwepemc, Darrell is expected to create art from it in
the same way his ancestors did a century and a half ago, before cultural
prohibition, hunger and death plagued his people, and he does so in a way
that other modern young artists are doing.

Like Margo Kane (Moonlodge) and Columpa Bobb (Dinky), Darrell
Dennis is part of a new wave of performance artists who take hold of their
lives, recreate their journey through it from their unique perspectives.
Along the way they bust stereotypes and address tragedy, abuse of all
sorts, and the attack on their individuality that stereotypes, tragedy and
abuse naturally become. He rises from this journey heroic, not because he
fought the “good fight” and won, but because through all of the obstacles
life presents, he challenged himself and transformed in the process.

In the storytelling tradition of both Interior and Coast Salish people,
we challenge our own stereotypes—not as victims who had those stereo-
types foisted on ourselves, but as players on the stage of our lives that had
choices and slid into the one that hurt another human being. Courage
is marked not by our ability to fight the “enemy outside,” but rather
the “strength to fight our greatest enemy, myself” (Chief Dan George).
Darrell’s regret over his role in contributing to homophobic harassment
reposes the highest moral standard on himself. While he did not actively
make fun of this lad in the same way others did, he did not step forward
either. This moment of regret is the turning point of his play, and with his
life. In this moment of assuming personal responsibility for the direction
of his humanity, Darrell connects himself to his Secwepemc past.

I have seen a number of “one person” shows around stereotypes and
the journey of Indigenous youth through our transition from the past
into the modern world. As a form it suits. First because the challenge of
performing and filling a stage with a full show is connected to the chal-
lenge of creating art from a very few basic shapes. Secondly, it calls upon
the performer to challenge the emotionality of those who might otherwise
corral their being into a thin wedge of expectation, to transform the sort of
persecution we all feel at times, into good humour and good fun. Thirdly,