Nunavut audience moved by retelling of Minik tragedy

In the play Minik, about a Greenlandic Thule boy brought to America as a curiosity at the end of the nineteenth century, each member of the cast takes turns playing the boy at different stages of his life. (PHOTO BY STEVE DUCHARME)

The play’s range of soundscapes contrasts quiet, haunting moments in 1897 Greenland and the bustle of New York City that same year. (PHOTO BY STEVE DUCHARME)

For the cast and crew in the National Theatre of Greenland production of “Minik,” it’s paramount to share the tragedy of the play’s namesake to as many people as possible.

“We need to heal, we need to forgive and move on but not without remembering and healing,” says Minik tour manager and director Susanne Andreasen.

The theatre troupe got an opportunity to share that story further on July 2 during two performances at Iqaluit’s Alianait Arts Festival on a specially retrofitted stage at Nakasuk School.

The festival presentation marks the first time the play has been performed in North America.

But Andreasen hopes its won’t be the last; the message of the play is too important, she said.

The modern-style production is a historical interpretation of the life of a seven-year-old Thule boy from Greenland, Minik, who traveled with his family from northern Greenland to New York in 1897 under the custody the American Museum of Natural History.

Most of Minik’s family died of disease shortly arriving with others sent back to Greenland.

After being told his family was buried, Minik discovered the bones of his father on public display at the museum.

The ordeal left Minik alone in a strange city, at odds with his identity and unable to feel welcome in either America or in Greenland, after his eventual return.

He fought unsuccessfully with museum administrators to reclaim his father’s remains until his sudden death in 1918.

“[The play] is about having your identity stolen, having the responsibility for your own life taken away from you. It’s about not knowing who you are and where you come from,” Andreasen explained.

“Being along, being scared, we have all the spectrum of feelings in the play.”

The four-actor ensemble explores Minik’s trauma in a roundabout narrative, with each actor taking turns assuming the role of Minik during key moments in his life.

The scenes unfold on a minimalist set, complimented by a digitally projected backdrop.

Actors create the play’s soundscape live onstage, using looping recorders to layer sounds, instruments and vocals over top one another to explore a range of soundscapes, from the isolation of the play’s earlier scenes in Greenland to the busy streets of 19th century New York.

The play’s critical moment — when Minik finds his father’s bones in the museum — breaks the “fourth wall” of the theatre, with one actor looking into an onstage camera that’s then fed onto the stage’s backdrop.

Andreasen says it’s important for the audience to relate directly to Minik’s trauma.

“You get affected by it… I think it sticks with you,” she said.

The play’s actors and crew fielded questions from the audience after both Iqaluit performances.

“People were very emotional and moved by it, because it is the same that goes around Inuit land, with Inuit culture, with Indigenous people all over the world. People saw [Inuit] as some kind of animal,” Andreasen said.

“Minik” was written and produced by students of Greenland’s National School of Theatre in 2014.

The play went on to receive critical acclaim in both Greenland and in Europe, when the Greenlandic script was re-written in English for a performance in Germany.

That same script was used for the inaugural North American performance in Iqaluit.

As for the next step, Andreasen says the troupe hopes to bring the play’s message to the United States.

“The dream is someday we’ll be able to take this to New York,” she said.

Most people are still unfamiliar with Minik’s tragic story, she said, even in his native Greenland.

“It’s not known enough,” she said.