The Seventh Fire – Touring Page
Photo by: Georgie Lawson
The Seventh Fire – Touring Page
Created by:
Lisa Cooke Ravensbergen with Mishelle Cuttler
Duration:
90 Minutes
Show Info
The Seventh Fire is an immersive, in-the-round audio performance by Lisa Cooke Ravensbergen with Mishelle Cuttler, that sources traditional, oral Anishinaabe stories and societal roles as a way to evoke ceremony in the everyday.
The sound and the story are the somatic links to ancestral realms. The story takes place in the present, past, and future; above and below the earth. It follows disconnected sisters Daanis and Nimise, who reconnect on their ancestral territory. Their journey interweaves with that of Nokomis, their grandmother who raised them, as she lights her fires in the Spirit World.
A Neworld Theatre touring production.
Originally produced by Delinquent Theatre and Full Circle: First Nations Performance, in association with Neworld Theatre. Created with the support of the Push International Performing Arts Festival.
Details:
- Run Time: 90 minutes, including a 10-minute lobby welcome and land acknowledgement. No intermission.
- Get in: 8 hrs.
- Bump out: 4hrs.
- Space requirements: Large, dark room. The piece works best when there’s a quiet welcome room/lobby space that is different from the main performance space.
- Audience notes: Audiences are asked to leave their belongings in the lobby before entering the space, where they’re free to stand, sit, lie down or move around.
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September 2025 – IMPACT Festival
May 2025 – Yirramboi Festival (Melbourne, Australia)
April 2025 – Performance as part of Boca Del Lupo’s Micro Performance Series
August 2023 – First tour production at SummerWorks Festival (Toronto, ON)
June 2023 – Performance at The Talking Stick Festival
January 2023 – Full production premiere at Lobe Studio, part of PuSh Festival (Vancouver, BC)
September 2020 – Public reading at Performance Works, part of Ruby Slippers’ Advance Theatre: New Works by Diverse Women, supported by Playwrights Guild of Canada and Vancouver Fringe Festival (Vancouver, BC)
March 2018 – Script and design workshop at Progress Lab 1422 (Vancouver, BC)
November 2017 – Public reading at the Weesageechak Festival with Native Earth (Toronto, ON)
September 2016 – August 2017 – Lisa C. Ravensbergen joined Delinquent Theatre as a Playwright in Residence to develop The Seventh Fire (Vancouver, BC)
September 2010 – September 2013 – Lisa C. Ravensbergen joins Playwrights Theatre Centre as an Associate to develop The Seventh Fire (Vancouver, BC)
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Includes graphic references to the Sixties Scoop, Residential School survivors, and death. Recommended for ages 9+.
Media
Creative Team
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Creator, Lodge Helper & Vocal Performance: Lisa Cooke Ravensbergen – Ojibwe and Swampy Cree
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Sound Design: Mishelle Cuttler
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Associate Sound Design: Debbie Courchene – Anishinaabe
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Associate Light Designer: Brianna Bernard
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Collaborating Dramaturgy: Laura McLean & Christine Quintana
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Tour Manager: Christine Quintana
Vocal Performance:
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Margo Kane – Cree-Saulteaux and Métis
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Tasha Faye Evans – Coast Salish, Welsh, and Jewish
Additional Vocals:
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Renae Morrisoeau – Cree-Saulteaux
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Kaitlyn Yott – Coast Tsimshian
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Language Advisor: Chiikishkiy: Walter Cooke – Ojibwe-Swampy Cree
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Language Advisor: Mishiikenh: Vern Altiman – Ojibwe
Lisa Cooke Ravensbergen
Debbie Courchene
Brianna Bernard
Christine Quintana
Supporters
PuSh International Performing Arts Festival
Native Earth Performing Arts
Land Acknowledgement
Neworld is grateful to create our work on the unceded and traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples, specifically the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.