Suicide Awareness

Weathervane Strategies was pleased to help obtain funding to produce a touring production of Alaska Writer Laureate Anne Hanley’s play “The Winter Bear”. Performances are to taking place in 16 or more rural communities throughout the state of Alaska.

“The Winter Bear” tells the story of an abused, neglected, and suicidal Alaska Native teenager who forms a relationship with Athabascan elder Sidney Huntington. Huntington shows the teenager how to use traditional culture to work through his despair and find his true voice. Although the story is fiction, the play is in part based on the life of Sidney Huntington, a prominent Alaska Native leader who has spent most of his life mentoring young people.

The play demonstrates the importance of meaningful relationships with Tribal Elders, to keep the oral tradition alive and to help younger Alaska Natives understand how to exist simultaneously in, what is in effect, two different worlds. The issue of suicide features prominently in the play, an echo of the true story of Sidney Huntington’s 3 children who committed suicide, as well as a representation of Alaska’s tragically high suicide rates, particularly in young Alaska Native male populations. This is one of many issues that are symptoms of a deeper disease, a result of the profound stress caused by the disintegration of the traditional subsistence way of life. The goal of this project is to promote a meaningful and productive dialogue among participating audiences about cultural identity.