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This article was published 23/02/2021 (2061 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was in January 2020 when newly minted artistic director Kelly Thornton announced her first programmed season at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre — a little more than a year, and a lifetime ago.

By June, her inaugural season was abbreviated, and later in the year, jettisoned altogether in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. For Thornton, one of the more heartbreaking cancellations was the Bridge, a “Festival of Ideas” intended to replace the Master Playwrights Festival.

Conceived as a multi-faceted community event encompassing plays, panels, concerts, symposiums and communal gatherings, the Bridge would “balance great theatre with dialogue and insight,” Thornton said when she first announced it. “It’s a place to ask questions, laugh, listen and learn.”

“It came out of a talk about how do I serve my community? What do I do for next generation of artists that are wanting to feel included. How can I support them?” Thornton said.

Presumably, those questions will be answered with the announcement that the Bridge will be coming back, running March 18-21, all digital and all free.

Curated by Kim Wheeler, an Anishinaabe/Mohawk writer and producer, the theme is 2021: Art and (re)Conciliation.

“Because of the pandemic, it was moved to a digital format,” Wheeler said in a press release. “This allows all of Canada to see the amazing talent we have in the Indigenous entertainment community. And I can’t wait for people to see the festival lineup.”

The program includes an afternoon series of interviews between journalist Rosanna Deerchild and guests including playwright Tomson Highway, arts journalist Jesse Wente, art scholars Heather Igloliorte and Julie Nagam, and artist Kent Monkman.

The keynote speech will be delivered by Sen. Murray Sinclair and Niigaanwewidam Sinclair.

The culminating event at the festival will be a performance of a full-length play, Isitwendam (An Understanding), by Meegwun Fairbrother, presented live from the Tom Hendry Warehouse Digital Studio on Sunday, March 21, at 2 p.m. It is described as the story of a young man in search of a truth, whose journey leads to a discovery about the father he loathed and lost. The play promises a fusion of western and Indigenous storytelling that includes Plains Indigenous Sign Language, drumming, ceremony and song.

Registration for the Bridge is free and is open at royalmtc.ca.

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @FreepKing