by AMY BARRATT

The 10th biennial Festival de théâtre des Amériques continues with another nine openings over the next seven days - and that's just the main stage. Three "Nouvelles scènes" productions get underway as well.

Burning Vision is native playwright Marie Clements' attempt to deal with the historical fact that the uranium used to make the atom bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 was mined on Dene land in the Northwest Territories by Dene workers. The title refers to the 1880 prophesy by a Dene medicine man, Louis Ayah, that "dangerous rock" would be taken out of Dene land, carried over water by a "large bird" and that fire would fall from the sky on "people who look like Dene."

The production, which opens next Wednesday at Théâtre Prospero, originates in Vancouver, but has several Montreal connections. Clements began work on the project when she attended a Women Writers Unit at Playwrights' Workshop Montreal in 2000. PWM artistic director Peter Hinton directs the cast, which includes Montrealer Julie Tamiko Manning.

Burning Vision is, according to Hinton, about how we deal with the disasters of the past, and about the concept of forgiveness. The Dene people themselves suffered and continue to suffer illness and death due to exposure to uranium. Even though they didn't know to what use the ore mined on their land would be put, they still felt a need to send their elders to Hiroshima to ask forgiveness of the Japanese people.

Clements, whose one-woman show Urban Tattoo was at the FTA in 2001, is a dense writer who sometimes tries to do too much in too small a space. Unconstrained by conventional play structure, she has been known to draw from performance art, film, visual art and opera and, of course, native ritual, to tell her stories.

Hinton is no stranger to ambitious projects. The first part of his epic play The Swanne played at Stratford last year, with a second installment due this season.

Vancouver critics praised the production when it played that city last year, particularly the set design, by Andreas Kahre, and soundscape by Noah Drew. If nothing else, Montreal audiences should go to Burning Vision for the rare opportunity to see legendary native actress Margo Kane.

Canadian Idols

On a non-FTA note, Dynamic Theater Factory, a local company devoted to grooming young talent, is celebrating its fifth anniversary. DTF offers a six-month program in stage and film acting that culminates each spring in an original showcase performance. The 2003 show, titled Electric!, features 17 of DTF's most promising students, ranging in age from 11–30. The showcases are specifically targeted to agents and other industry folk, but are open to the public as well.

Burning Vision, June 4–7 at Théâtre Prospero (1371 Ontario E.), $23–$28. Tickets to all FTA shows are available at the Monument-National box office (1182 St-Laurent), 871-2224, through Admission, 790-1245, or online at www.fta.qc.ca

Electric! runs from May 29–June 7 at the Centaur (453 St-François Xavier), 288-3161 For more info about DTF, call 393-3383 or e-mail info@dtfactory.com

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