By meadowlakeNOW

M.L. entertainer remembers local roots while touring nationally

Jul 21, 2017 | 6:00 PM

Life is moving fast for Dakota-Ray Hebert. The local actress recently signed on to three major theatre productions across Canada and even though she’s making waves nationally, she still credits her roots in Meadow Lake. 

“Meadow Lake is home, it’s where my roots are, where my heart is,” the 24-year-old Dene woman said in a phone interview. 

She was recently cast in a touring performance called Canada, It’s Complicated, led by Mary Walsh of This Hour Has 22 Minutes fame. Over the winter, she will be a part of Mistatim, produced by Red Sky Performance, which will travel through British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario. In March of next year, she will reprise her role in Salt Baby in Victoria, British Columbia.

Despite her growth in the entertainment world, Hebert regularly makes it back to Meadow Lake where she got her start. 

“I got into acting at Lakeview School,” she said. “It was my Grade 4 Christmas show and I had to pretend to be a super stressed out teacher. That was my first taste of acting and I couldn’t get enough of it.”

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She kept performing in more plays throughout her school career, moving from Gateway School, Jonas Samson Junior High and Carpenter, until she moved to Regina halfway through Grade 10. Determined to act on the Globe Theatre stage, she was accepted into its conservatory program as the first ever Indigenous woman to take part.

“That was my springboard into the career that I have now,” she said. “That was five years [ago] and I’ve been booked with plays and gigs fairly regularly since.”

She said acting has always fulfilled her in a number of ways.

“It’s the excitement and adrenaline,” she said.

Hebert said she pursues roles in theatre pieces that speak to her culturally and artistically. She was in a few different productions which focus on Indigenous issues and topics, like Dreary and Izzy, Salt Baby, and Gordon Tootoosis Nīkānīwin Theatre’s Rez Christmas shows.

“That’s the beautiful thing about theatre, you can see it’s affecting people somehow,” Hebert said. “Sometimes you can stop thinking about it, or the characters are relatable, or it’s a breathtaking show. Salt Baby was one of my favourite plays and favourite roles. I got messages about it afterwards that sparked two-hour conversations about Indigenous issues and rights.”

She enterered the comedy world a couple year back and said she finds it is a great medium to educate others. She has taken part in open mic nights all over the province and in Toronto. She helped with a ‘Walk with Our Sisters’ fundraiser, and started a game show and podcast based on Cards Against Colonialism, a parody on the popular Cards Against Humanity game. She even helped host a comedy night at Boston Pizza here in Meadow Lake earlier this year.

“I was always the funny friend,” Hebert said. “Laughter is the best medicine, and when people are laughing, it’s almost like they’re more open-minded to learning things. It starts a dialogue.”

Her path has led her to some other interesting projects as well. In June, she was a social media host on the Aboriginal Peoples’ Television Network’s seven-hour long National Aboriginal Day broadcast. She was invited back after winning a contest last year, thanks to her series of YouTube videos and her overall social media presence.

To learn more about Hebert and track her upcoming performances, visit her Facebook page here.

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca  

On Twitter @ReporterKath