- Tonight on WPBS Weekly Inside the stories in the heart of Ontario, a vibrant celebration of Shakespearean art comes to life.

Each summer we'll take you there.

Also, we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal with a multi-part special series.

Examine how the construction of the canal impacted indigenous peoples.

Plus a recipe for deep fried shrimp with tamarind sauce that just might become your new go-to appetizer or dinner.

Your story is your region coming up right now on WPBS Weekly Inside the stories.

- WPBS weekly inside the stories is brought to you by - When you're unable to see your primary care provider.

A Carthage Walk-in clinic is here for you.

Located off Route 26 across from Carthage Middle School.

Comfort and Healing close to home when you need it most - North Country Orthopedic Group is there for your urgent ortho or sports related injuries.

With our onsite surgical center and same or next day appointments, we're ready to provide care for patients of all ages.

Your health matters to us North Country Orthopedic Group, keeping healthcare local.

- We are the north country.

We're protecting one another like family is who we are and where our tomorrow will always be worth defending.

Find out how we keep the North Country Strong, at claxtonhepburn.org Today.

- Select musical performances are made possible with funds from the statewide community re-grant program, a re-grant program of the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the office of the Governor and the New York state legislator administered by the St. Lawrence County Arts Council.

- Good Tuesday evening everyone, and welcome to this edition of WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories.

I'm Michael Riecke.

Founded in 2002, the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival in Prescott, Ontario has grown in reputation for its engaging interpretations of Shakespeare, often blending traditional elements with modern creativity.

The festival emphasizes the importance of keeping Shakespeare's works relevant and alive for contemporary audiences.

Take a look - In the heart of Ontario, where the mighty St. Lawrence River flows.

A vibrant celebration of Shakespearean art comes to life each summer.

Founded in 2002, the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival has become a beloved cultural institution.

- The Shakespeare Festival is now a part of Prescott's history.

In the beginning, the board members and their families would be here every single night, every single night.

I would know everyone in that this amphitheater.

I come now and I don't know anyone.

It's people coming from afar.

It changes you.

It absolutely changes you.

And the stories that Shakespeare wove transcend time, the the issues, they are about love, they're about war.

They are about jealousy.

We experienced those and something that thrilled me in the beginning was to find out that they can set Shakespeare in any period of time, in any costuming, and it has happened.

- Producing the St. Lawrence Festival theater involves a unique collaboration among actors, directors, and community members.

Each playing a vital role in bringing the performances to life.

Actors immerse themselves in their roles.

Directors provide creative vision and guidance and local supporters contribute their time, resources, and enthusiasm fostering a shared appreciation for the arts.

- No one else gets a space like this.

I've never seen it where you're on the water, but it's still enclosed and you have this beautiful amphitheater and all this seating.

There's a great energy here and support of this festival.

The town has really made it their own and, and there's such a community energy around it, and everyone we knew who had worked here said that.

And we're from Toronto.

We don't get that feeling.

You're always a small fish in a big pond here.

This is something that everyone in this town knows that the Shakespeare Festival is going on and they get involved and our volunteers are such an integral part of what we do.

So it's really that energy and excitement around theater that made us wanna be part of it as much as possible, because that's, that's unique.

- Shakespeare's work explores fundamental human experiences, love, ambition, jealousy, power and mortality.

These themes resonate across cultures and eras, making them relevant to people from all walks of life.

This emotional resonance allows audiences to deeply connect with the stories and characters.

- Shakespeare is interesting because he comes with a lot of baggage and some of it good and some of it bad, right?

And I mean, I don't like to use that descrip-, that sort of dichotomy, but in the end it is right.

We have to take in things from these plays that are, as we say, sort of like, sort of icky me and you say, we take on these things from icky, you know, how do we make them a new, despite that, how do we make them a new in, in lieu of that, how do we, how do we find our own collaboration with Shakespeare himself?

I mean, I always kinda make the joke like, you know, we can change things.

Shakespeare doesn't care.

He's dead.

You know, so it, it, it also, there's a freedom in that Shakespeare's is un un unheralded.

He is a fantastic dramaturg.

He's a fantastic playwright.

When things happen, you're like, oh my God, that should have happened.

Then sometimes he's a bit long-winded, but here we are.

It's a bottomless art form.

It's a bottomless.

You cannot find the bottom of Shakespeare's works.

They will keep going and they will surprise you every day.

- Outdoor festivals evoke this historical context, connecting modern audiences to the roots of Shakespearean theater.

Outdoor venues can foster a more intimate connection between actors and audiences.

Overall.

Outdoor Shakespeare festivals capitalize on the natural environment to create immersive, engaging experiences that celebrate both the art of the theater and the beauty of the world around us.

- Shakespeare was done outdoors in the middle of the afternoon with no divide between the audience and the performer.

Oh, what's so wonderful about outdoor theater is when the trees, the water, the wind, when they compliment what's going on, the wind's whipping around you and taking robes and making them fly.

It's really like a magical experience when nature's in harmony with what's going on stage.

And that's something you can't recreate inside.

- The actors at the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival not only engage deeply with Shakespeare's work, but also with the local culture.

They draw warmth and encouragement from audiences near and far who come to experience the timeless plays of William Shakespeare set against a breathtaking natural backdrop.

- I see theater as a form of community engagement and that is what I'm most passionate about.

That's why I'm not as excited about films or, or that sort of thing because what is most exciting to me is a local community coming together and having a shared experience.

If we start there with storytelling, hopefully we can move on to all kinds of discussions and we can relate and we can feel empathy for each other.

It's so exciting here, particularly where we are locally.

We have locals coming, we have cottagers, we have tourists, we have families, we have all, all sorts of people who are here from different contexts.

And so people come to the show from different places and we all just meet at the same spot and we can say hello, we are going to tell you a story.

Sit back or lean forward.

Dive in with us.

Hey, - For WPBS weekly, I'm Gail Paquette.

- This year's St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival takes place July 19th through August 16th in Prescott, Ontario.

You can find more information at StLawrenceShakespeare.ca Well, in 2025 we're marking the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal.

We're celebrating this engineering marvel with a multi-part special series.

Tonight we examine how the construction of the canal impacted new indigenous peoples.

- Well, the impact of the Erie Canal started long before the Erie Canal.

You look at the history of the colonizers, the way they write their history is it was one of the best moves of mar to help build America and that the American people had ever done well.

You look at the Native American side of it and it's the most devastating and betrayal acts that the government of the colonizers has done to us to obtain our land.

And we still feel the effects today.

They considered the Haudenosaunee New York State's Indian problem and we view it the opposite.

Jake Edwards is my English known name.

I'm from the Onondaga Nation Eel - Clan.

- Our home is what's now called New York State.

This is our house, the trees, the forest, and are our walls to our house.

The skies are our ceiling and Mother earth is our floor and we consider it that way.

To this day, it's been recorded and and studied to be around 1142.

The forming of the Confederacy of the what we are called by the French, the Iroquois, and we're called by the Americans, the six nations and what we're also known by our own name as the Haudenosaunee.

and all of our communities are still intact.

And Onondaga nation still functions as a government and and as the fire keepers of the confederacy, as the fire keepers of the Haudenosaunee is the capital.

And we still function under the leadership of our traditional chiefs and clan mothers.

And so we're still in existence and we're not going anywheres the Erie canal are, we're actually our original waterways as as far as they were prior to the canal.

- All of the, the nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy from Albany, which is Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and then later Tuscarora all are involved in the territory of the canal.

The canal was all about westward migration and the dispossession of Haudenosaunee people and then native people out west as well.

We are on the unseated land of the Onondaga nation.

In fact, all of Syracuse, all around the lake is on unseated Onondaga nation land.

- Indigenous people all over the world understand their proper relationship with the natural world and especially water because it is the river of life where bodies are comprised of water.

We have this special relationship that is regenerative.

We couldn't live, we couldn't produce without our association and relationship with water.

I would like to go back as far as the very first treaty that was made with colonizers who were the Dutch.

And this was in 1613.

It's known as the two row wampum.

The Haudenosaunee were following the principles of peace and establishing this agreement whereby the earth is viewed as a river of life and the Haudenosaunee would be sailing down the river in their canoe in a parallel route to the Dutch who would be sailing in their ship.

And they both would be living in respect with one another down the river of life.

What the Dutch failed to understand and future colonists that came to this land was that the river of life entails that you live in proper relationship with the earth.

What came through after the Revolutionary War several decades later was that they had in mind to build the Erie Canal, which was an artificial river and devastated all of Haudenosaunee land.

So we have moved on as a country of of ill made relationships right from the get go.

- These two worldviews come into stark contrast in the canal.

The Sullivan Clinton campaign, that historical moment first began with an attack at Onondaga early in the spring of 1779.

The larger context is that George Washington saw that this was an opportunity right during the Revolutionary War to redirect his resources to the extermination of the Haudenosaunee.

The Haudenosaunee Grand Council here at Onondaga signed a treaty 1775 that they were going to be neutral.

George Washington used the occasion of the Cherry Valley massacre to justify the attack throughout Haudenosaunee territory.

And what this was was a scorched earth campaign.

All these corn fields were burned, all kinds of fruit trees and other things were being destroyed.

As a consequence of this, the onondagas had to escape.

Many of them went towards, you know, Niagara Falls, Fort Niagara, many of the Seneca, the Cayuga, and it was a very bad winter.

So many of them died, but some of them stayed.

- Washington paid his troops with Haudenosaunee land because he had no money or other means to pay them.

So it established a military presence throughout the state.

- So these are called the military tracks that come as a result of the Sullivan Clinton campaign.

And that opens up, particularly in the western part from Fort Stanwick, west Patriots.

Americans wanted to go west and this becomes the mythology, the myth history of manifest destiny for westward migration.

And so the Erie Canal makes that possible.

The Revolutionary War makes that possible and George Washington scorched earth campaign makes that possible.

- And in the meantime, we survived Their, their strategy of eliminating us didn't work.

Some of us moved and some of us hid.

We hid in different rooms of our house in the woods and we returned back home to find our villages burned.

Destroyed.

They put back in their reports that it was a accomplishment.

Majority of our people moved to Buffalo Creek up near Lake Erie and we, we established a community there, but a lot of the people stayed here at home.

At Onondaga where we are today, the newly formed United States government passes these laws and one of the laws that sticks out is the Intercourse Act or the Non Intercourse Act you could call it.

And so New York state violated federal law.

They were authorizing some of our young men as signatures to treaties, what they call treaties and buying up land from our individuals.

They knew the value of our home and so they pursued it and they looked at it as advancing and growing America.

A new newly formed government.

We did make treaties with the United States government.

1794 George Washington, after the treaty was ratified from Canandaigua George Washington and the United States Congress ratified the treaty which made promises that this land is still ours undisturbed.

And so the treaty was violated shortly after 1794 and we're still arguing for our rights today to the Land Organization of American States is where we have our human rights case today to be heard.

So when you talk about the prosperity of the Erie Canal, it only benefited a few and devastated many.

Our original instructions are to live in peace and harmony with Mother Earth and mother nature.

And we still do our very best that we can today as Onondagas to carry that message on so that future generations will have the abundance of good life that we know it can exist here on Mother Earth.

- Up next from One World Kitchen, a tasty recipe for deep fried shrimp with tamarind sauce.

Tamarind is a sour, tangy fruit common to Thailand and other Asian countries.

It helps balance sweetness, heat, and saltiness.

In this dish, jumbo shrimp are deep fried without breading or batter.

The result is a crispy exterior, then topped with a sauce that's both delicious and different.

It can be served as an appetizer or with rice as a meal.

- This is tart tamarind and it's the foundation of so many Thai dishes and I'm making a recipe where it is going to shine in a sauce and there's nothing better to balance all that tartness than palm sugar.

And when you add palm sugar, you make sure, save a little sum for yourself.

Mm, fish sauce, some salty kick, so much personality, oyster sauce.

Gonna give it that sweet, salty thickness.

Ready for the best part, siracha.

Now this was originated in Thailand in a town called Siracha.

Quaint little town.

Love it there.

My cousin went to school there and now that's gonna give me some heat.

But for even more heat, some chilies, look how pretty that is.

And see these big juicy plump shrimp, these are gonna go with that sauce.

First order of business.

I'm gonna fry up some garlic.

And in this pan is where all the magic's gonna happen.

Tamarind sauce going in.

Keep the heat medium to low.

You don't want the sugar to burn And keeping the heat low, I just need to release the heat from that Chili's.

Oh garlic's done.

Third pan, I got 350 degree oil.

These shrimp are going in just like that 'cause they're big and juicy and they'll be crispy on the outside and they'll still be moist and plump on the inside.

Just watch these shrimp dance.

Yeah, - This is gonna wow people.

Make sure you get some nice big shrimp and look how fast that was.

And they're ready.

Thailand has a long coastline, so seafood is huge, especially for a special occasion.

And this is exactly something we would eat when you know special people come over and fried garlic right on top and don't be shy with the garlic oil 'cause all that garlic flavor just went right in there.

Oof.

My mouth is watering just from the tart smell of the tamarind.

Sweet, juicy shrimp still crispy around the outside and that tart slightly sweet tamarind sauce.

Mm.

If you've got great seafood, this is the sauce to go with it.

- For the full recipe and many others, you can go to gustotv.com.

Well that does it for this Tuesday night edition.

Join us next time for a fresh look.

Inside the stories we head to Garnsey's Feral Acres in Chaumont, a sanctuary where animals are cared for and the community is learning to do the same.

And for more than 34 years, the Kinsman Dream Home Lottery has made dreams come true all while raising funds for community initiatives and non-profit organizations.

Also, the Akwesasne art market and juried show features, traditional and contemporary art.

Plus, we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal with a multi-part special series.

Discover How the Canal sparked America's Engineering Revolution.

Meantime, if you have a story idea you'd like us to explore, we'd love to learn more.

Drop us an email at WPBSweekly@wpbstv.org and let's share it with the region.

That's it for tonight.

Everyone have a safe evening.

We'll see you next time.

Take care.

- WPBS Weekly Inside the stories is brought to you by - When you're unable to see your primary care provider.

The Carthage Walk-in Clinic is here for you, located off Route 26 across from Carthage Middle School.

Comfort and Healing Close to home when you need it most - North Country Orthopedic Group is there for your urgent ortho or sports related injuries.

With our onsite surgical center and same or next day appointments, we're ready to provide care for patients of all ages.

Your health matters to us.

North Country Orthopedic Group, keeping healthcare local.

- We are the north country.

We're protecting one another like family is who we are and where our tomorrow will always be worth defending.

Find out how we keep the North Country Strong, at claxtonhepburn.org Today.

- Select musical performances are made possible with funds from the statewide Community Regrant program, a REGRANT program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the office of the Governor and the New York State legislator administered by the St. Lawrence County Arts Council.

- I see theater as a form of community engagement and that is what I'm most passionate about.

That's why I'm not as excited about films or, or that sort of thing because what is most exciting to me is a local community coming together and having a shared experience.