You used to call me Marie...

Summer 2022

By Tai Amy Grauman

Savage Production Society is proud to present the summer tour of YOU USED TO CALL ME MARIE…a Métis love story by Tai Amy Grauman, beginning in Regina at New Dance Horizons on July 16.

After a successful tour of the workshop production last summer, the cast is excited to bring a full production to communities across Alberta and Saskatchewan.

A love story, a historical epic and a celebration of Métis song and dance ‘You used to call me Marie…’ paints the stories of the Callihoo women in Alberta. Music plays, and ponies dance as the story of Marie Callihoo unfurls through generations and time. We follow Iskwewo, Napew, and Mistatim (‘horse’ in Michif) in eight intertwined stories of love and resilience as the Métis nation emerges across the plains. As we experience the love stories of Alberta’s Metis women, through stories of the fur trade, governance and organizing in the 1930s and into the present day, we witness generations of Callihoo women unfold.

Don’t miss the world premiere of this beautiful new play, featuring era-spanning dance and live music, from French fiddle to contemporary country!

Tai Amy Grauman

PLAYWRIGHT

Tai Amy Grauman (MFA) is Métis Cree from Ardrossan, Alberta. Her family comes from St. Paul as well as other surrounding areas in Region 2. She is a Callihoo as well as a Beauregard with ancestral ties to Haudenosaunee voyageurs. She is an actor, playwright, director and producer who has worked primarily in theatre and is now expanding to film. Tai was recently honoured at Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak’s ‘Apihtawikosian Iskwewak: Honouring our Matrirachs’. She also recently received the Edmonton Arts Council’s ‘Artist Trust Award’. Tai founded the ‘Marie Collective’ along with Brittany Ryan which will focus on touring Métis shows to communities across Alberta. Tai recently completed her MFA from the U of A in ‘Metis women’s love stories’.

Currently Tai is developing a film series about the Callihoo women’s Métis love stories, adapting Romeo and Juliet and touring her show Marie’s love letters at Lii Taab to Métis conferences.