In 2011, by chance, he found out his true identity - he was a Mohawk from Kahnawake. His father Louis Beauvais, and mother, Janie Lazare, were his birth parents. He grew up believing Janie was his cousin. The process of absorbing such information and the journey he’s been on since became the basis of his memoir, Beautiful Scars, which has now been adapted into a stage production that will premiere at Hamilton’s storied Theatre Aquarius from April 24 to May 11. “I grew up thinking I was a big, tough sweaty Irish guy,” Wilson said, sitting casually in a lounge chair upstairs at Theatre Aquarius during an exclusive interview with the Two Row Times last week.
rock-star hair, rings, jean jacket and beard, looks and acts decades younger than a man in his sixties.
DO YOU FEEL IT? Dramaturgy and Original Direction by Mary Francis Moore Music Supervision & Orchestrations/Arrangements by Bob Foster
Starring Sheldon Elter as Tom Wilson
His energy and purpose, he says, comes from creating. Whether it’s music (with his famed band Lee Harvey Osmond), visual art, writing, and now, a playwright, creating keeps him going. Beautiful Scars is a musical drama co-created by Wilson (Tehoha’Hake) and Shaun Smyth that runs 135 minutes including intermission and stars some of Canada’s most talented actors.
APRIL 24 - MAY 11, 2024 SEASON SPONSOR
TITLE SPONSOR
DONNA PATTERSON
Sheldon Elter, a Metis writer, actor and comic,
OPENING NIGHT SPONSOR
WELCOME NIGHT HOST
MARKETING SUPPORT
ARTWORK ELEMENTS & GUITAR BY TOM WILSON - TEHOHA’HAKE
Tickets at theatreaquarius.org or call 905-522-7529
https:// THE theatreSPIRIT aquarius.org/ OF ALL NATIONS events/beautiful-scars/
Tom2024 Wilson. | www.tworowtimes.com | 519-900-5535 | Grand River Territory | FREE WEDNESDAY Aprilplays 17th, “This is a story that continues to unravel,” says Wilson. “It is even being written in real-time.”
Beautiful Scars: Tom Wilson’s journey to discovering his Indigenous identity
“I’m actually Mohawk. My blood is from Kahnawake.”
He revealed the news to the public on CBC 1045 Brant Countyhost Hwy 54Sook Yin-Lee…. “a secret that radio with Ohsweken 519-770-3628 had been kept from me by my family my whole life. I had a completeDONNA anxietyDURIC attack. I donna@tworowtimes.com couldn’t believe what I had done.” TWO ROW TIMES
He went back home to Hamilton to recover from making the revelation public and a week Lazare Wilson later, he got a callThomas from Penguin Random is one of most House books. An agent fromCanada’s the publishing iconic rock stars. company heard his interview on CBC radio and asked if he’d ever thought of in writing book. Born 1959,a Wilson
NORMAL grew up in the“expletive gritty His initial reaction was a hilarious, 1
no,” saying, “that sounds tooofmuch work.” innerlike core Hamilton,
famed Canadian The publisher askedthe him to come in forsteel a town marked by blue-colmeeting anyway, to which Wilson replied, “I’m a musician, I don’tlar doworkers, anything aall day, of dystopian course I’ll come in for a meeting. They led me factory-lined skyline, and to this boardroom and all these finely dressed
Come see us for great savings
SALES • SERVICE • PARTS
SNOWMOBILES • SIDE X SIDES • ATVS • MOTORCYCLES • JET SKIS • LAWN MOWERS
1264 COLBORNE ST. EAST, BRANTFORD, ONTARIO PHONE
519.759.8140
crumbling Victorian architecture. He was raised by a great-aunt and uncle and believed the majority of his adult life that he was simply a tall, lanky Irish dude from the Hamilton hood. In 2011, by chance, he found out his true identity - he was a Mohawk from Kahnawake. His father Louis Beauvais, and mother, Janie Lazare, were his birth parents. He grew up believing Janie was his cousin. The process of absorbing such information and and the journey he’s been on since became the basis of his memoir, Beautiful Scars, which has now been adapted into a stage production that will premiere at Hamilton’s storied Theatre Aquarius from April 24 to May 11.
“I grew up thinking I was a big, tough sweaty Irish guy,” Wilson said, sitting casually in a lounge chair upstairs at Theatre Aquarius during an exclusive interview last week. “I’m actually Mohawk. My blood SUBMITTED is from Kahnawake.”
“I grew up thinking I was a big, tough sweaty Irish guy,” Wilson said, sitting casually in a lounge chair upstairs at Theatre Aquarius during an exclusive interview with the Two Row Times last week. “I’m actually Mohawk. My blood is from Kahnawake.” He revealed the news to the public on CBC radio with host Sook YinLee….“a secret that had been kept from me by my family my whole life. I had a complete anxiety attack. I couldn’t believe what I had done.” He went back home to
Hamilton to recover from making the revelation public and a week later, he got a call from Penguin Random House books. An agent from the publishing company heard his interview on CBC radio and asked if he’d ever though of writing a book. His initial reaction was a hilarious, “expletive no,” saying, “that sounds like too much work.” The publisher asked him to come in for a meeting anyway, to which Wilson replied, “I’m a musician, I don’t do anything all day, of course I’ll come in for a meeting. They led
HAPPY EARTH DAY
SANDY SHAW
MONIQUE TAYLOR
MPP HAMILTON WEST— ANCASTER—DUNDAS
MPP HAMILTON MOUNTAIN
(905) 628-2755 SShaw-CO@ndp.on.ca
(905) 388-9734 MTaylor-CO@ndp.on.ca
me to this boardroom and all these finely-dressed people. They have a pyramid of donuts and a carafe of coffee and it’s 10 in the morning and I’m drinking the coffee and eating the donuts and I’m getting sweatier and more erratic, my arms are waving around….all of a sudden, it’s 12 noon. I’ve been talking for two hours straight. They say to me, ‘we’ve never met anyone like you before. We’d like you to write for Random Penguin House.’” Thus, Beautiful Scars: Steeltown Secrets, Mohawk Skywalkers, and The
Road Home was born. “It was an outpouring of the journey. It saved me hundreds of thousands of dollars in therapy.” The book gained fame at literary festivals and eventually became a best-seller and film by Shane Belcourt. Now, it will be a musical. Wilson, with his extremely long, face framing, rock-star hair, rings, jean jacket and beard, looks and acts decades younger than a man in his sixties. His energy and purpose, he says, comes from creating. Whether it’s music (with his famed band Lee Harvey Osmond), visual art, writing, and now, a playwright, creating keeps him going. Beautiful Scars is a musical drama co-created by Wilson (Tehoha’Hake) and Shaun Smyth that runs 135 minutes including intermission and stars some of Canada’s most talented actors. Sheldon Elter, a Metis writer, actor and comic, plays Tom Wilson. “This is a story that continues to unravel,” says Wilson. “It is even being written in real-time.”