Skeleton Canoe
ROLE: Projection Designer and Creative Producer
Venue: Lincoln Center Education, National Tour
NYC Premier: December 12, 2025
CREDITS:
Written and Performed by Ty Defoe • Production Stage Manager Amanda Sayed • Dramaturgy and Cultural Consultant Mark Denning • Canoe, Mask, and Turtle Shell Design and Fabrication by The Great Lakes Lifeways Institute • Multimedia Design by Katherine Freer • Costume Design by Lux Haac • Sound Design by Christopher Darbassie • Lighting Design by Emma Deane • Scenic Design Tanya Orellana • Puppet Design by The Chicago Puppet Studio • Illustrations by Katrina Brown Akootchook • Production Manager and Lighting Supervisor by Calvin Anderson
DESCRIPTION:
Skeleton Canoe follows the story of young Nawbin, an Anishinaabe youth searching for where they fit in. After mistakenly breaking their family’s canoe paddle in a fit of emotions, they flee their home and set out on a rite of passage journey that will take them along the water. Along the way they encounter unexpected friends, weather storms, and discover a calling to care for the earth in this time of climate crisis.
Skeleton Canoe is more than a performance, it’s a community gathering. During the day there is a Birch bark Etching workshop, free for the community to learn some of the traditional techniques that went into creating some of the objects in the piece.
One morning in an Anishinaabe town not too far away from here, Nawbin sees an eagle drop a feather while they are out digging a pit to prepare for the ricing. They rush back to tell their family, but all are distracted with preparations and ignore Nawbin. In the storm of their emotions, the family’s sacred ancestor oar is broken. Scared and embarrassed, Nawbin runs through the night landing in a birch forest far from home. By the riverbed they encounter Jiimaan, the bent-wood frame with pieces of birchbark clinging to the sides. Jiimaan is alive and invites Nawbin to journey with them down the river.
On their jouney down the rvier, Nawbin and Jiiman meets many friends. They receive knowledge in answer to their questions, each lesson connected to an Anishinaabe teaching. In the end, Nawbin returns home with a greater understanding of who they are, where they come from, where they are going, and their purpose
