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Reviewed by: 3 Plays: If Jesus Met Nanabush; The Tommy Prince Story; Born Buffalo by Alanis King Lisa Tatonetti (bio) Alanis King. 3 Plays: If Jesus Met Nanabush; The Tommy Prince Story; Born Buffalo. Markham on: Red Deer P, 2015. ISBN: 978-1-927083-32-1. 148pp. Noted Odawa Nation playwright and director Alanis King offers a collection of three rich, funny, carefully crafted plays that collectively represent a strong addition to twenty-first-century Indigenous theater. King, the first Aboriginal graduate of the National Theater School in [End Page 101] Canada, has won much acclaim, and her previous plays include Manitoulin Incident, Bye Bye Beneshe, Song of Hiawatha: An Anishnaabec Adaptation, Order of Good Cheer, Gegwah, Lovechild, Artshow, Heartdwellers, Storyteller, and Step by Step. Along with serving as the artistic director for the Debajehmujig Theatre Group and Native Earth Performing Group, King has been a producer and director of numerous plays in First Nations communities. King often credits her experiences growing up in the songs, stories, and dance of the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve as the basis for much of her work, and the encounters in the three plays that form her latest dramatic contribution are no exception. They show the quick humor and surprising juxtapositions that so often characterize skilled storytelling and include Wikwemikong as a central locale. The opening piece in the collection, If Jesus Met Nanabush, which was first produced by the Debajehmujig Theatre Group, brings the ever-serious son of the Christian God, who calls himself Godfrey, together with the irascible Anishinaabe trickster at the Grand River Champion of Champions Powwow on Six Nations. Jesus is on a mission to find his “living equal,” while Nanabush is heading out on the powwow trail. The two combine forces, heading south toward Albuquerque. Along the way Jesus sheds his robe, learns to drum and dance, and starts to drink, heavily. With quick moves through time and space, Godfrey (Jesus) and Nanabush verbally spar as Godfrey moves from innocence to experience in the world of the late twentieth century. Through their often-hilarious exchanges, King asks questions about belief and cultural perseverance. Both figures experience crises of faith, with Godfrey, who has time-traveled from eight years before the crucifixion, saying despairingly, “It’s all been a lie. Why should I go back? For torture, betrayal?” (30). Nanapush likewise experiences desolation, lamenting, “I’m still here. Right here before your eyes. Yet you don’t see me. You won’t see me, truly see me, until you’re ready to give up Jesus” (47). The play concludes with King’s overt claim for Anishinaabe survivance as Nanapush burns Godfrey’s Bible for warmth, promising to remain and await his people’s recognition in the last years of the twentieth century, which he terms “the decade of the Red” (53). The second piece in King’s collection, The Tommy Prince Story, premiered in 1995. Thomas George “Tommy” Prince (Saulteaux, 1915–77) was born in Manitoba and served in both World War II and the Korean [End Page 102] War. Despite his eleven medals (Prince was the most decorated Aboriginal veteran of all time), his recognition for heroism both on and off the battlefield, and his work for Indigenous peoples, Prince died in poverty. King gives us both “Old Tommy,” living his final days in a Salvation Army room and remembering his life, and “Young Tommy,” who is first at Elkhorn Residential School, then in World War II, then having combat flashbacks that spur his wife, Vera, to leave him. King weaves back and forth in time, bringing in key figures and events from Prince’s life and family history, including his great-great-grandfather Chief Peguis. The play quotes the citations Prince received for his many acts of bravery and daring and emphasizes the ironic contrasts in Prince’s life as he is denied service at a bar because of his race in one scene, while in another instance he is feted at an event for decorated soldiers at Buckingham Palace. King’s overlaps of the young and old Prince serve to punctuate and comment on these contrasts. King’s reclamation of Tommy Prince’s life concludes with an...

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