Announcing the First Winner of Scholarship for Indigenous Students in Drama at the University of Saskatchewan
February 1, 2023
The Hnatyshyn Foundation and The University of Saskatchewan are proud to announce a new partnership that will award $10, 000 scholarships to recognize the academic achievement of Indigenous undergraduate students in drama. This program is a collaboration with the University of Saskatchewan’s wîcêhtowin Theatre program, one of few university-level Indigenous theatre programs in the country.
The first laureate of the prize is Leze Pewapsconias, an actor from Little Pine First Nation Reserve, about 200 km northwest of Saskatoon.
The Foundation is particularly proud to enter into this partnership because the Right Honourable Ramon J. Hnatyshyn and Mrs. Gerda Hnatyshyn are both alumni of The University of Saskatchewan. Ramon was recognized, in 2007, as one of 100 Alumni of Influence. He obtained his BA in 1954, his LLB in 1956, and his LLD in 1990.
Leze Pewapsconias hopes to bring theatre training back to the reserve, explaining:
“I ultimately believe the arts and drama are a gateway to self-actualization, positive mental and physical health, and [that they] will continue to set my people down, as they have for me, a positive path of healing.”
At the University of Saskatchewan, Pewapsconias has been in multiple Greystone Theatre productions, including The Secret in the Wings by Mary Zimmerman, directed by Treena Stubel, Gordon Winter by Kenneth T. Williams, directed by Deneh'Cho Thompson, and Sir John A. Acts of a Gentrified Ojibway Rebellion by Drew Hayden Taylor, directed by Deneh'Cho Thompson.
In the summer of 2023, Pewapsconias will work with SUM Theatre in Saskatoon as an actor in an ensemble cast.
