Keepers of the Salish Sea: World premiere of play by Shadbolt Fellow Justin Neal

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) recently announced the scholars selected to the 2024-2025 Jack and Doris Shadbolt Fellowship in the Humanities Program. The Department of Indigenous Studies is honoured to host Justin Neal, founder of Holy Crow Arts, a theatre company grounded on Coast Salish lands.

Justin Neal writes offbeat stories that weave comedy with high-stakes drama, creating tales that aspire to uplift and transform. As a Shadbolt Fellow, Neal will share space for academic and practicum exploration during the premiere of Keepers of the Salish Sea, a play that celebrates self-discovery whilst honouring a phenomenal cultural practice. He’ll continue developing other projects, including Aunties, based on rarely told stories of families, like his own, descended from Coast Salish women who migrated to Washington State and married Filipino farm managers, many of whom took care of the farms of interred Japanese families during WWII.

Keepers of the Salish Sea is presented by Holy Crow Arts, November 21 - December 1, 2024 at The Cultch, Historic Theatre in Vancouver. Full and reduced priced tickets are now available.

Holy Crow Arts is subsidizing a limited number of free tickets to Indigenous patrons, and is also sharing a limited number of Pay What You Choose tickets for anyone with limited means.