A horse named Mistatim: Residential school, reconciliation at forefront of theatre production

After three years of touring across Canada, local actor Dustin Luck recently got an opportunity to display his theatrical chops back home in Sault Ste. Marie this past week.

Luck plays the role of Calvin in Mistatim - a theatre production created and produced by Red Sky Performance - which touches upon themes of reconciliation and connectedness as two people overcome personal and cultural barriers to tame a horse.

“There’s these two characters that are separated by a border - in the play, it’s a literal fence that separates them - and they slowly become friends,” Luck told SooToday before a performance of Mistatim at St. Basil’s Elementary School earlier this week.

The production has taken Luck across Canada and into China over the past three years.

The National Theatre School graduate is now touring with Mistatim across northern Ontario, taking the production into schools in White River, Wawa, Sault Ste. Marie, Elliot Lake and Massey before heading further east to the Cobalt area.

In the play, all that separates Calvin on his ranch from Speck, an Indigenous woman living in a First Nation is a fence. The two work together to tame a wild horse that bears the production’s namesake.

“Speck’s character, her mother went to residential school, and she reveals that in the play, and it’s revealed in a way that’s really...it’s well presented to younger audiences and it gets them thinking about it in a not too aggressive way,” Luck said.

The Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board (HSCDSB) says that Mistatim is a helpful tool for teaching its staff and students about Canada’s residential school system.  

“Having some of our students attend Mistatim aligns well with our board’s commitment to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action,” said HSCDSB education director Rose Burton Spohn in a statement to SooToday. “The play highlights some individuals’ experiences at residential schools, and it does so in a respectful, compassionate, and compelling way.”  

“Given that several communities in our board’s jurisdiction once had residential schools in them, including Sault Ste. Marie, it is critical that our students and employees understand what occurred in Canada’s history and how we can all move towards reconciliation.”

Luck told SooToday that his involvement in Mistatim even helped educate his own father on the residential school system.

“My dad, he really gunned for this show to come here because he wanted to see it,” Luck said. “This show’s really cool, because it him to read up about residential schools and it got him really excited about bringing this here.”

Luck says that he’s happy to come back home and perform an important production like Mistatim in Sault Ste. Marie.  

“It’s so cool to bring a show that I love doing, and I think the show’s super important, and to bring it back here where I know it would be so, so useful and so well received, I’m really giddy about it.”

Luck wrapped up his Sault portion of the tour with a performance at Sault Community Theatre Centre Saturday.