Finding love and self following the aftermath of Road Allowance Métis displacement.
Apples and Train Tracks
by Arnolda Dufour Bowes
April 30-May 10, 2026 World Premiere
co-produced by Burnt Thicket Theatre and Gordon Tootoosis Nikaniwin Theatre
Directed by Roxanne Dicke with dramaturgy by Daniel Macdonald
Inspired by the playwright's father, who lived as a Road Allowance Métis haunted by memories of his community being forced into railcars and shipped away. Charlie wrestles with the consequences of intergenerational trauma as he fights to forge a new legacy of love with his wife, Rose. In 1940, the government of Tommy Douglas began a campaign to eradicate Métis Road Allowance Communities, sending their residents to remote Rehabilitation Farms in northern Saskatchewan.
Now in his mid-thirties, Charlie finds himself at a crossroads in his work, his purpose, and his marriage. Bewildered by flashbacks of his mother, Bella, and haunted by the riddles of a seemingly homeless yet mystical woman, Charlie searches for what he's been chasing—or running from: his uncertain future and the community home he lost.
High School Student Matinees: 1:00pm on May 1 & May 7-8
Audience Advisory: This production was not created for young audiences, although children are welcome to attend at the discretion of their parent/guardian. Contains some coarse language and mature themes.
About the Playwright
Arnolda Dufour Bowes is a creative artist, emerging playwright, and multi-award-winning author of multiple books and stories. Her work 20.12m: A Short Story Collection of a Life Lived as a Road Allowance Métis inspired this play, which explores a fictionalized account of her Kokum and father's experiences when the 1946 Saskatchewan government imposed the Métis Rehabilitation Farms and forcibly removed families from Road Allowances to Green Lake in the north. Development of this new script has been supported by GTNT's New Voices writers-in-residence program and Burnt Thicket Theatre. Arnolda Dufour Bowes' award-winning book 20.12m, available at bookstores, birthed both the play Apples and Train Tracks and her multi-sensory art installation of the same name, exhibited recently at Batoche National Historic Site in 2025.
Many thanks to our Sponsors
Season Sponsor: SK Arts
Production Sponsor: Dakota Dunes Community Development Corporation
Saskatoon Community Foundation & David Edney Fund for Theatre
SaskCulture
Creative Saskatchewan
Canada Council for the Arts
Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan
Riversdale Neighbours Church
Stobbe Photo, Saskatoon
Globe Printers, Saskatoon