Music and storytelling are at the heart of Coast Salish cultural traditions. Our Hul’q’umi’num’ Theatre Program draws on these traditions to create modern performances in the Hul’q’umi’num’ language. The performances we create help build language capacity and work to stem the decline of the Hul’q’umi’num’ language by supporting language learning and bringing stories to life in dramatic performances. We hope to engage interest in the language and spark  the imaginations of both our participants and our audience members. 

Our Activities

With theatre, our performers have the chance to experience language not only as words but also as physical movement, social interaction, and emotional connection. Many find that by taking on a character with scripted dialogue, they feel more comfortable speaking Hul’q’umi’num’. Having a script and rehearsing the lines gives participants the chance to experience Hul’q’umi’num’ with a feeling of fluency. As they perform their lines they pay attention to rhythm, intonation, and body movement and produce more conversational speech than they would otherwise. 

In addition to building language skills, our theatre work develops and strengthens the skills of our cast and crew.  Our participants develop artistic skills like acting and writing; language skills like listening, narrative creation, and performance;  production skills like promotion, direction, set design and costuming; and  administrative skills like organizing cast and crew, scheduling, booking venues and budgeting. 

Finally, our community-based model helps foster connections between generations. Our performers range in age from 18 to 75. We also involve Elders and Knowledge Keepers as mentors and guides as we develop our theatre projects and create our original productions. These kinds of interactions  support language and culture learning and offer meaningful language practice to everyone involved. 

Our productions:

• syuth ’utl’ tth’asiyetun | The Story of tth’asiyetun

This moving performance shares original songs from an opera about the life of tth’asiyetun, the last great Coast Salish hereditary chief, who united his people to battle the Yuqwulhte’x invaders at hwtl’upnets (Maple Bay) in the mid-19th century. Blending song, narrative, and performance, the piece honours ancestral memory and celebrates the strength of community and language. 

Click below to view the song list and hear the pieces! (recently updated in Jul 2026)

• hw’ittsus Ihqel’ts | Jealous Moon

Based on a story by  Yelqwetse’ | Chris Alphonse; Script by sti’tum’at | Ruby Peter, Rae Anne Claxton, and sp’aqw’um’ultunaat | Donna Gerdts