Company in Residence

Echo Theatre is an artist driven company. We are flexible and move with projects in the way that they want to move. We love theatre, puppet theatre, shadow theatre, playwritten theatre, collaborative theatre, physical, text heavy, text light, experimental, improvised and devised theatre, slow theatre. We love the intersection between visual arts and theatre, between sound art and theatre, between culture and theatre. Right now we love to connect theatre with the Michif language community. Right now we love  gothic stories of gender fluidity in Victorian times. Right now we love audiences to access stories that are for them.

The project:

To create KIYANAAN, an Indigenous Theatre Festival which will celebrate the legacy of Indigenous theatre and contemporary work with focus on Indigenous artists in Manitoba, creating a training ground for Indigenous theatre workers, and national and international attention on productions from here.

CHARLENE VAN BUEKENHOUT

Charlene (you can use she/her or Char) is a Metis / Belgian / Canadian theatre artist residing in Treaty one territory / Winnipeg. She is the Artistic Producer of Echo Theatre, actor, theatre creator, and emerging director. Charlene recently directed The Gravedigger by Michael Lawrenchuk at the Gast Station theatre as her directing debut! She has sat in the Michif Language Revitalization Circle and is working at learning and reviving the Southern Michif language.Check out the "projects section to learn about the latest theatre/Michif collab with the Southern Michif Performers!. Her TYA Michif language show MINOOSH DOO-KAPEESHIW was live at the Winnipeg Fringe in 2022. She created the outdoor theatre performance for individual houses with the Knock Knock Ginger Series with One Trunk Theatre. The show was called Li Minoosh Doo- Kapesheew Daan Liveer and was revived and adapted for a digital audience for Kids Fringe at Winnipeg Fringe 2021. She has  participated in The New England Puppet Intensive and has created a Crankie (look it up) to tell ghosts stories and other stuff! Past  theatre shows you might have seen her in are: Imagination Situation (Winnipeg virtual Fringe 2021; HAMLET (the rest is silence) with her baby daughter (Shakespearefest 2020) Di and Viv and Rose (RMTC Warehouse), Destroy, She Said (Mia van Leeuwen). Past Echo Theatre productions include: Blithe Spirit (Cowardfest), A Strange Pair (Ayckbournfest), JONNO (Wpg Fringe Fest).