Tom Wilson's memoir-turned-musical brings 'celebration of Indigenous identity' to Hamilton stage

When Mohawk artist Tom Wilson was writing his best-selling memoir Beauti‐ ful Scars, he'd often read passages out loud to him‐ self, to hear how they sounded "in the air."

This week, Wilson will watch actors sing some of those same words to hun‐ dreds of people - as the mu‐ sical inspired by his memoir, and of the same name, pre‐ miers at Hamilton's Theatre Aquarius on April 24.

"Hearing them emoted from people who have been generous enough to give everything they've got to every word, man, that's an emotional journey and one that I wasn't expecting," the homegrown music icon told CBC Hamilton.

Creating the musical in Hamilton was a natural fit, said Wilson.

His hometown has in‐ spired his rock music and art for decades. As chronicled in his memoir, Wilson was raised on East 36th Street by a couple who he later discov‐ ered were not his biological parents.

The musical will follow Wilson as he discovers his In‐ digenous heritage and then traces his roots back to the Mohawk Nation of Kah‐ nawà:ke, just south of Mon‐ treal.

"I'm offering to the the‐ atre a celebration of Indige‐ nous identity and celebration of self-discovery," Wilson said.

"It rarely happens. The In‐ digenous world does not necessarily feel welcome in the theatre experience main‐ ly because it is such a deeply, deeply rooted colonial insti‐ tution."

'Unapologetically Indige‐ nous'

The play will be among the first "unapologetically In‐ digenous" autobiographical musicals in the country, said Mary Francis Moore, Theatre Aquarius's artistic director, who's also directing Beautiful Scars.

When she first read the book in 2017, she said she was not only "shocked and blown away by the story" but also convinced it was made to be a musical.

"Tom is such a poet and words of his books feel like lyrics sometimes and you just kind of felt this musical un‐ derscore," Moore said. "You feel music in every story he tells."

Wilson has been a mem‐ ber of Canadian bands like Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, Junkhouse and currently Lee Harvey Osmond, but he was clear he didn't want the play to become a rock star biopic, said Moore.

Instead, Wilson's char‐ acter, played by Métis actor Sheldon Elter, finds himself in different situations where he's flooded by visuals, music and memories that eventual‐ ly lead him to the truth, Moore said.

Wilson created the musi‐ cal alongside Shaun Smyth, an actor born in Glasgow and raised in Calgary. Wilson also wrote the musical score, while his son Thompson Wil‐ son Shaw, 31, plays the younger version of Wilson.

Shaw, also a musician, started travelling with Wilson when he was 11 years old and "grew up backstage," Wil‐ son said. They've collabo‐ rated together on many artis‐ tic projects, although acting wasn't one of them until now.

"I didn't know that he could act, and I don't think he knew if he could act, but he can - so that worked out real‐ ly good," said Wilson.

If there's a message Wil‐ son wants to leave the audi‐ ence with, it's that Canada can do better for its Indige‐ nous people.

"This country is responsi‐ ble for some of the grossest and most inhumane attemp‐ ts to wipe out a civilization in the history of mankind," he said. "It would be really wise for us to start having a con‐ versation about this and tak‐ ing some action."

The play runs from April 24 to May 11.