SOTS presents new multimedia installation at riverside site

All the world’s a stage — and that includes the wintery outdoors at the Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan site for a new interactive storytelling installation.

The new project called pimohtēwak — Cree for “the ones who walk” — is a multimedia experience created with the help of artists from It’s Not A Box Theatre and the support of Production Lighting to help share the stories of Cree/métis storyteller Joseph Naytowhow.

“There are no live performers,” It’s Not a Box theatre artist Torien Cafferata said. “You are simply walking with a recorded voice giving you cues and stories.”

The project is designed to be a unique artistic experience in Saskatoon. Participants will put on headphones connected to a specially-designed app, through which Naytowhow’s recorded stories will lead the audience through a series of visual and interactive settings.

Cafferata, who worked closely with Naytowhow to help frame his stories for the programmed experience, said his goal was to do as little “gatekeeping ” as possible for Naytowhow’s stories. Instead, Cafferata said he helped focus the stories into a theme — that of the people who enter and leave your life.

“When you meet someone who impacts your life, it also changes the place that you met them in,” he said. “It’s an exploration of the relationship of space that you share with someone.”

It’s a very different style of show to be produced by Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, which is broadening its artistic scope as it pushes ahead with its plans to build a more permanent amphitheatre on their site by the river.

pimohtēwak is a free artistic event that runs in the evenings from January 22 to 27. Each night has four half-hour time slots that can accommodate eight people at a time for the full experience.

Sign-up for available time slots can be found at www.shakespearesask.com/events/details/pimotehwak.