Imposing in a heavy buffalo robe, Joseph drums and sings in the Stew Tasche play, The Cypress Hills Would Never Be the Same. The play centres on events that followed a massacre at Battle Creek on June 1, 1873. A group of American and Canadian wolfers had lost some horses, presumed stolen, in Montana. When authorities in Fort Benton offered no help, they set out on their own to track down the thieves, crossed the Medicine Line into Canada, and ended up at Abe Farwell's trading post in the Cypress Hills of Saskatchewan.

In the play, the wolfers are portrayed as rough and crude men who would shoot a bison and poison the carcass. Wolves would take the bait, die in agony, and then the wolfers would skin them - no bullet holes to mar the pelt. It is known that they got into some heavy drinking at Farwell's Post, and the next day they confronted a group of Nakota (Assiniboine) who were camped nearby, accusing them of horse theft. This was later proven false. Too late, though, because the confrontation turned violent, and the wolfers opened fire from the protection of a high creek bank. More than 20 Nakota were killed.

The Canadian West was completely undeveloped at the time, with no law enforcement or transportation corridor; word of the Cypress Hills Massacre took nearly three months to reach Ottawa. Plans were already underway to develop a national police force, and this event accelerated the process. The following year a force of the newly formed North West Mounted Police marched out to the Alberta border and put an end to the widespread gun and whisky smuggling and establish an official Canadian presence in the area.

Tasche's play tells the story via secondary characters. Sitting Bull - who showed up with 5,000 Lakota followers after Little Bighorn - and James Walsh and other prominent figures are referenced, but less iconic characters relate the story from a ground level perspective - and it works really well. A heartfelt and memorable show, although, in Joseph's final lines, it was "a bad day for the Nakota."

Photographed at the Lyric Theatre in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2017 James R. Page - all rights reserved.

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Perpetrators of the Cypress Hills Massacre in the Stew Tasche play, The Cypress Hills Would Never Be the Same. Left, Doug Sawatzky; right, Gord Nodge. Photographed at the historic Lyric Theatre in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2017 James R. Page - all rights reserved.

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These excellent players provided the "soundtrack" for the recent Stew Tasche play, The Cypress Hills Would Never Be the Same. L to R: Mark Penner, guitar; Ed Doyle, bass; Dave Cyca, guitar; Jille Shotton, banjo. Lyric Theatre, Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2017 James R. Page - all rights reserved.

Tags:   musicians music band string band performers rehearsal on stage spotlight playing players guitar bass banjo traditional The Cypress Hills Would Never Be the Same play Stew Tasche playwright Lyric Theatre Swift Current Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page

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Skip Neufeld played a Civil War veteran who fell in with some wolfers and contributed to the Cypress Hills Massacre in 1873. A conflicted character, he clearly carries both anger and regrets. Seen here in the Stew Tasche play, The Cypress Hills Would Never Be the Same, at the historic Lyric Theatre in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2017 James R. Page - all rights reserved.

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Madonna Hamel on stage in her role as Crow Mary, a First Nations woman caught between two worlds. Here she is recounting facing down some of the wolfers in the aftermath of the Cypress Hills Massacre. This scene is from a live performance in November. Photographed at the Lyric Theatre in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2017 James R. Page - all rights reserved.

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