With the Town of Okotoks considering changing the name of Dewdney Park due to Edgar Dewdney's historical connection to the mistreatment of First Nations peoples, the question remains of whether or not the Okotoks-based theatre group The Dewdney Players will follow suit.

Councillor Ed Sands, having himself been involved in a number of Dewdney Players productions, even raised the question during council's latest meeting.

According to the Dewdney Players' president, Nicola Payton, they will be undergoing somewhat of a rebranding, but that conversation has been underway for some time now.

"We're coming up on our 40th anniversary next year and we had actually been in the process of talking about renewing and updating our whole identity, really. We were coming up against issues where people thought we were a professional theatre group, whereas we are actually a 100 per cent volunteer-based theatre group and we wanted to reflect that."

Talk about timing.

The Dewdney Players were founded in 1982 and used to host their productions at The Station Cultural Centre (now The Okotoks Art Gallery,) which is also home to Dewdney Park, hence the name of the theatre group.

Though controversy over the historical Dewdney wasn't the root of the decision, it's certainly become part of the discussion.

Payton says the group does make an effort to recognize First Nations peoples and the land we inhabit.

"In the last few shows we've done, we do a Treaty 7 Land acknowledgement because we feel strongly that that is something we should do, especially when we're telling stories, which is always something that's been done on this land, so we have felt that's important for us to do."

In terms of their new name, there are certain criteria such groups have to meet when formally choosing a name under the Societies Act.

Some of those requirements include the name having to be unique, with a descriptive element, and a legal element such as "Association" or "Society."

It'll also have to be ratified by their board and entire membership at their AGM.

That may take a bit of time to fully transition to their new name, but Payton is confident it'll all be over and done with by the time that 40th anniversary comes around.

They're also keeping busy rehearsing for their first live show since the beginning of the pandemic, planned for the end of July.

 

Send us your news tips, story ideas and comments at news@highriveronline.com