New Play Commission – Rural Arts
“I want to write a play that centers on forgiveness, within yourself and with others. Armed with this base knowledge, you can continue learning the Seven Grandfathers’ Teachings.”
– Isobel Rondeau, Playwright
Summerland’s Ryga Arts Festival Presents
NEW PLAY CREATION COMMISSION
WINGS (Working Title)
Playwright: Isobel Rondeau
This story is about a young man who is a Residential School student. We follow along his life until it ends and then we go on an adventure into his afterlife. Here is where he meets all sorts of characters who help him reclaim teachings that he has lost. These teachings are the Seven Grandfather Teachings and while their language varies subtly across Turtle Island, the meaning remains constant.
We learn about Honesty. Love. Humility. Courage. Wisdom. Truth. And finally, Respect. Through the animals that represent each teaching. Raven, Eagle, Wolf, Bear, Beaver, Turtle, and Buffalo. At its core, this is a story about forgiveness, growth, and love for yourself.
Quanah Daniels, Caitlin Stafford
& Barbara Jagodics
(Summerland’s Ryga Arts Festival 2025)
Photo: Ricardo Fernandez
MEET THE PLAYWRIGHT
Isobel Rondeau | Wings (Working Title)
Author, Isobel Rondeau was born and raised in Edmonton Alberta and eventually settled in northern Alberta where she and her husband raised their two children. Currently residing in beautiful British Columbia, Isobel finds peace and tranquility while writing close to nature. Fiction stories about everyday people are what she enjoys writing about. Isobel also writes under the pen name Belle Rondeau.
Her novels include: Wings Of An Angel, Absence of Breath, and the Ava’s Curse Trilogy.
GALLERY
2025 New Play Development & Dramaturgy Team: Quanah Daniels, C.E. Gatachilan, Isobel Rondeau,
Caitlin Stafford, & Jack Paterson (Summerland’s Ryga Arts Festival 2025)
ABOUT SUMMERLAND’S RYGA ART FESTIVAL
Summerland is a rural municipality on the west side of the Okanagan Lake in Interior BC.
Every year since 2015, Summerland’s Ryga Arts Festival reimagines our small town to be a vibrant meeting place of the arts and community. For a full week, presentations, performances, new creations, concerts, readings & symposiums on contemporary social issues take place in parks, street fronts, local shops, galleries, etc. All within walking distance from each other.
We aim to bridge barriers that may prevent anyone from participating in our communities and the arts, be these ability, cultural, economic, historic, physical, regional or otherwise. We will find a role for you.
NEW WORKS COMMISSIONS & DEVELOPMENT
Summerland’s Ryga Arts Festival aim to empower BC Interior artists’ of all walks of life ito express their own stories, in their own voices, and their own creativity through their own art. We do this by placing the needs of the artists we work with first.
Drawing from our local, regional and national partners and connections, The Playwright / Theatre Maker receives a bespoke New Works Process developed to meet the individual artist’s unique creative, cultural, disciplinary and other needs.
CREATIVE & PRODUCTION TEAM
Playwright: Isobel Rondeau | Consulting Dramaturg: C.E. Gatachilan | Project Consultant: Deneh’Cho Thompson | Creative Producer: Jack Paterson | General Manager: Trista Bassett
Land Acknowledgment
The Ryga Arts Festival acknowledges with respect that this event takes place on the ancestral and unceeded lands of the Sylix peoples, who have cared for these lands since time immemorial. We are grateful for their ongoing stewardship & hold ourselves responsible for listening, learning, and building right relations through the work we do.
For more information on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada click here. www.nctr.ca
We gratefully ackowledge the support of:
Barbara Jagodics
