Skidders lands second theatre role at Cornwall’s Vagabond Theatre

Mohawk actress and writer-in-the-making Nikaiataa Skidders will co-star this weekend in her second performance with Cornwall’s Vagabond Theatre.

Skidders and five others star in “Kingfisher Days”, a one-act memory play set in a Canadian lake town during a 1960s summer. The play’s narrator and main character, Susan (Nancy Munro), is a five-year-old during that summer who has no one to play with except her elderly neighbor, Mr. Moir (Bill Roddy). One day, she finds a neatly folded pink letter written to her by a fairy – Nootsie Tah – played exquisitely by Skidders.

Nootsie Tah is quite self-absorbed in the audience’s first meeting with her, and through the letters she writes to Susan we learn that she was banished from her Peruvian fairy kingdom for being too proud. While Susan struggles to find ways to fill her lonely summer days, Nootsie Tah is also going through a period of self-discovery and eventually her own loneliness for her home and mother are clear. The two characters thrive off one another’s curiosity and they enjoy a summer-long correspondence – with the help of Mr. Moir who can read and write.

The audience can’t help but sympathize with Nootsie Tah as she is clearly innocent and humorous in her moments of self-worth. Skidders acts the role of bratty fairy quite well, declaring upon each stage exit, “Nootsie Tah! Princess!”

While part of the play is an endearing, touching coming-of-age story, Skidders’ role brings some magical and uncanny humor to the stage. From her outfits to her unpredictable hand gestures, she is meant to be the liveliest character and she pulls it off.

Skidders recently graduated from the University of Vermont in Burlington where she studied theatre. She is currently enrolled in an online script-writing course by the Wright Brothers and she hopes to be a working script-writer in the near future.

Acting is a hobby for her that she hopes will help her in writing; she is able to better understand the practicality of scene-writing and she can also empathize with a working cast in a way she wouldn’t be able to do from paper. “Kingfisher Days” is Skidders’ second performance with Cornwall’s amateur Vagabond Theatre. She previously starred in “The Unexpected Guest” by Agatha Christie.

“Kingfisher Days” will be presented on April 16, 17, 18, 23, 24 and 25th with the 25th reserved for all past and present members of VAGABOND Theatre. The theatre is located at the GLEN BUILDING which is situated behind the Si Miller Arena on 2nd St. E in Cornwall. Tickets are available at Cornwall and Seaway Valley Tourism 11 Water Street W. Tickets are $12.00 and the shows start at 8 P.M. with doors opening at 7:30 P.M.