Between the Layers: Spiderwoman Theatre, Storyweaving, and Survivance

The Spiderwoman Theatre, the longest-running Indigenous theatre company in North America has heralded the revolutionary methodology of Storyweaving for generations of Indigenous artists. Storyweaving is a distinct methodology that governs the dramaturgical structure and performed transmission of the company's plays on the contemporary stage. The practice of Storyweaving predates written history. It has been (and remains) specific to tribal storytellers across the continent. The reclamation, then, of this aesthetic legacy by contemporary Indigenous storytellers is a crucial act of recovery. Jill Carter, an Anishinaabe-Ashkenazi theatre-worker and scholar, examines the process and development of Storyweaving. She studies how Storyweaving imagines and architects a functional framework that is being adopted and adapted by artists from myriad nations to create works (on the page and stage) that facilitate the healing, transformation, and survivance of their communities. Between the Layers pays respects to the teachers and visionaries that moulded this practice and encourages future generations to continue its legacy, while making a much-needed contribution to the study of Indigenous theatre and performance. In its painstaking documentation of the Storyweaving artform, Between the Layers refuses the devaluation, erasure, and suppression of Indigenous culture, while contributing to the dissemination and celebration of Indigenous Knowledge Systems.

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Spiderwoman Theater: A Performance History Introduction: Between the Layers Chapter One: Persistence of Violent Delights: “It’s All the Same Bullshit Again” Chapter Two: “An Indian is an Idea a Man Has of Himself” Chapter Three: An Indian is More than Just an “Idea”: By Their Acts Ye Shall Know Them Chapter Four: Towards a Poetics of Re-Worlding: Becoming (and then Staging) the New Human Being Chapter Five: The Published Texts Chapter Six: The Three Sisters from There to Here: Spiderwoman’s Issue and the Project of Re-worlding Appendices Works Cited

About the Author :
Jill Carter is an Anishinaabe-Ashkenazi theatre-worker and Associate Professor in the University of Toronto’s Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies; Transitional Year Programme; and Centre for Indigenous Studies.

Review :
“Between the Layers is a detailed, impassioned account of the Storyweaving process, work, and legacies of Spiderwoman Theater. But it’s much more than that. It’s a model of engaged, ethical, and meticulous scholarship, itself carefully layered and woven together to make a compelling case for the life and vibrancy of Indigenous communities beyond mere survival. The book is a must-read.” “In a context of ongoing Indigenous political and cultural resurgence, Jill Carter’s book demonstrates “communitist” research that articulates the history and practice of the Spiderwoman Theater. She intervenes in the metanarratives of theatre history in the United States and historicizes Indigenous professional theatre’s resurgence, grounding it emphatically in the healing of Indigenous women. The passionate care Carter shows to her artist/research partners and her intended readers – theatre artists, scholars, and others involved in the project of re-worlding – make this book a gift.”