A Tour in Planning

Akpik Theatre and Theaturtle are in the process of planning a dynamic 2026 - 2028 national and international Kiuryaq tour. Dates are subject to change and shift as needed. If you are interested in learning more or would like to connect with us directly please contact Alon Nashman @ Theaturtle and Reneltta Arluk @AkpikTheatre for more information and/or interest.

The Pitch!

Kiuryaq is an immersive circumpolar theatre performance that explores our relationship with the Northern Lights. It’s an interdisciplinary piece created by music, film and theatre artists from Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples of and near the circumpolar North. Kiuryaq gathers stories from Alaska, northern Canada, Greenland and Norway into an overarching narrative about two siblings separated by a forced adoption from a Northern Indigenous community. Kiuryaq is a transformative performance which weaves the circumpolar region together and offers its wisdom to the planet.  

It will premiere in the Fall of 2025 at at the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada then tour to the Siuaala Arts Festival in Nuuk, Greenland and go into 2026 and 2027. Kiuryaq producers are: Alon Nashman who leads the Toronto-based Theaturtle which has toured work on five continents and Dr. Reneltta Arluk is Artistic Director of northern focussed, Akpik Theatre.

Kiuryaq began as story sharing between northern artists and then with northern Knowledge Keepers. The unifying element being our stories all connected to the Aurora Borealis, or Kiuryaq in the Inuvialuktun language. These stories, Reneltta grew up with and continue to experience since she was a little girl living on the land with her Grandmother and Grandfather. But these are not only her living experiences in the Northwest Territories. These stories are similar to those known in Alaska, Yukon, Nunavut, Greenland, and the Sámpi lands of Northern Scandanavia. Stories often so terrifying that as adults we still listen to our relatives and do not dare taunt them! But at the same time we also acknowledge the spiritual, epic, inherently playful and contemporary aspect of them.

The resulting performance will take the audience far beyond the bucket list cliches associated with the Northern Lights and deep into the worldview and wisdom of peoples who live with the Northern Lights as many of us live with rain. The lights are very much about who you’re with when you see them. They instil what Canadian playwright Thomson Highway calls “permanent astonishment,” living with the land, inhabitants, and ancestors of the North. Kiuryaq has been workshopped at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Geordie Theatre in Montréal and is slated for a residency at The Chan Centre in Vancouver. The piece is scored for a string quartet and Indigenous singers, and features three Indigenous performers and performed within a vivid projection design.

Kiuryaq is situated in the life, landscape and cosmology of the North. For this reason we remain committed to bringing it to the communities from which these stories originate. So, our first audience will be in the north of Canada, then Greenland, and our European premiere will be in November 2026 at the exquisite new home of the Sámi National Theatre in Guovdageaidnu, Norway, seen in the picture. You are all invited to our premieres!

Kiuryaq can be scaled for different sizes and shapes of venues, from traditional concert halls and theatres to planetariums, community centres, and snow amphitheatres for accessibility and connection. There will be a simplified but fully impactful version we will tour to school gyms in remote northern communities. The full concert version will include a live string quartet and fully immersive video.

Wherever we go, as a company, we seek out connection with Indigenous audiences. Akpik Theatre has a practice of sharing a meal after a performance with the communities we visit, and we aim to continue that practice. We will build out other community outreach activities that can be offered alongside Kiuryaq.

We are looking for presenters, but also for commissioners drawn to the unique qualities of our circumpolar collaboration. Partners and presenters can have a look at Kiuryaq in Vancouver on April 5, 2025, at the culmination of a three week residency, or at our premiere performances in Yellowknife, Nuuk, and Guovdageaidnu. Any questions?