Take an entertaining look into the history of the Cariboo-Chilcotin with Theatre Skam's production of Cariboo Buckaroo at the Exploration Place Oct. 20 to 22.
Stories that have never been told are presented by Matthew Payne.
Fun for the whole family, this project is in partnership with Theatre North West and the original play follows the trail of an 1860s cattle drive as it makes its way north to the gold fields.
"We are very excited to have an opportunity to partner with The Exploration Place on this project," said Samanth MacDonald, Theatre North West artistic producer. "Cariboo Buckaroo is a clear cross-pollination of both organizations' mandates, and we look forward to working together to offer other family-oriented entertainment in the future."
The creator and performer of this one-man show grew up in Quesnel and took it upon himself to discover personal histories of some of the vaqueros who drove beef trains across the interior.
"I wanted to write a show about the first cowboy in British Columbia," said Payne, a professional theatre artist. "As I researched that, I discovered the word cowboy wasn't very old. The first people who led cattle into B.C. were not called cowboys, they were called buckaroos."
Payne said he interviewed cowboy historian Mike Pahallo who used to live in Kamloops and passed away last year. He also spoke to others who were part of the cattle drive back in the day.
"Then I discovered the story of the Chilcotin war, which I hadn't heard of before," said Payne. "So I was struck by that and found it really fascinating that I had gone to school there and never heard that story. Then I began to figure out how to weave these historical stories into the story of the cattle drive."
The play has been around for a couple of years and Payne said he added a couple of new songs into his repertoire for the show at Exploration Place.
"I am really excited to bring this show to Prince George," said Payne. "This is a new and exciting opportunity for professional theatre companies to develop new work and present it in this area."
Tickets are at Theatre North West at 250-563-6969 and at Exploration Place at 250-562-1612. The play will be presented at The Exploration Place, 333 Becott Place, at the end of 20th Avenue in Fort George Park.
