Six Nations artist’s new play tackles false claims of Indigenous ancestry, with humour – The Spec
November 10, 2023
Reading at the Weesageechak Begins to Dance festival in Toronto
The seeds for the play were sown long before the controversy surrounding Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Indigenous ancestry, but there’s no denying that Six Nations artist January Rogers’ new work is timely.
The premise of “Blood Sport” involves a fictitious game show in which contestants compete for Indigenous heritage. It was selected for a staged reading on Friday (Nov. 10) at the Weesageechak Begins to Dance festival in Toronto.
The allegations and headlines surrounding Sainte-Marie followed a CBC report last month that she falsely claimed her Indigenous roots. However, Rogers began working on the play well before that.
