Author and playwriter Drew Hayden Taylor explores the role of indigenous storytelling in mythmaking, theatre, and maintaining Indigenous culture. He learns the true meaning of Lake Okanagan’s sacred spirit and the companion land spirit, the rattlesnake. The western rattlesnake is culturally important in the legends of the Osoyoos desert people. Water spirits and rattlesnakes are common in traditional stories. An indigenous drama professor says that theatre has always been part of native culture. Traditional storytelling is a performance, recreating a past event.

In Navajo country Drew meets weavers who tell old Navajo tales through their famous tapestries. In Kawartha Lakes territory, ON, three master storytellers continue the ancient tradition around the campfire. In Vancouver, the publisher of Talon books pushes indigenous stories into the mainstream. Humour is important in first nations literature and drama. Stories are culture and storytelling could become a major performance art for native people. We all love stories.

In Going Native, celebrated humorist and author Drew Hayden Taylor examines the stereotypes and traditions of Indigenous identity while discovering cool new ways Indigenous people are shaping their culture in the 21st century.