Description:
It's 1950 in the deserts of Southern California. Evangelist Brother Cain has a booming trade; his tent revival show moves from town to town, fleecing crowds desperate for something to believe in. When he discovers Mary, a Ntlaka'pamux woman from BC's Nicola Valley, reading the Bible, he puts her onstage, renames her Grace, and displays her as a miracle: an Indian who can read. A grand, sweeping story of friendship and redemption, The Ministry of Grace is a powerful look at people struggling to live, love, and retain dignity in a heartless world.
Brief description:
Tara Beagan is a Ntlaka'pamux and Irish "Canadian" playwright and actor based in Mohkinstsis (Calgary). She is cofounder/director of ARTICLE 11 with Andy Moro; their feature film Reckoning premiered in 2023. Beagan served as Artistic Director of Native Earth Performing Arts (2011 to 2013, and has been in playwright-in-residence at Cahoots Theatre, NEPA, the National Arts Centre, Berton House, and most recently, Prairie Theatre Exchange. Seven of her 35 plays are published. Two plays have received Toronto's Dora Award nominations, with one win. In 2020, Honour Beat won the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama. Recent writing includes Rise, Red River for PTE (premiering in 2024 with PTE, Theatre Circle Moliere and A11), Nice White Lady for Necessary Angel, and Ride or Die for Sunny Drake Productions, produced by Downstage. Beagan is a Dora and Betty nominated actor, recently appearing in Theatre Calgary's Little Women as well as Vertigo's The Extractionist. Most recently, Beagan was nominated for a Betty for directing her play The Ministry of Grace (for Making Treaty 7.) Along with protege Joelle Peters, Beagan is the 2020 laureate of the Siminovitch Prize for Theatre.
Review Quotes:
"There's a place that awakens, or is it a remembering that happens, when you witness the beautiful telling of The Ministry of Grace. Tara Beagan's writing begins as a slow spark of ancestral knowing, and then without warning erupts into a roaring flame of absolute truth, engulfing everything in its path." -Michelle Thrush, award-winning actor
"There's a little bit of Of Mice and Men feeling to The Ministry of Grace, and a little bit Tender Mercies, Paris, Texas, and Fool for Love, too... Funny and sexy, lonely and longing, and a wonderful reminder that when theatre is good, it's awesome." -CTV