Keir Cutler performs an 'act of resurrection,' exploring his mother's memoir onstage

May Cutler, the first female mayor of Westmount and a prominent advocate for English-speaking Montrealers, casts a long shadow.

Her son,Keir Cutler, grew up listening to stories his mother would tell, particular about her childhood spending summers in Mont-Tremblant in the 1930s.

Now he's created a show debuting at the St-Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival based on her memoir, I Once Knew An Indian Woman, published in 1967.

"Of course it's been 50 years. So the story has sort of disappeared. The book is no longer in print but it's a story she told me as a child. It had a big effect on me," he said.

Cutler's mother died in 2011, and now in his15th appearance at the Montreal Fringe, he's decided it's time to share the story with a wider audience.

"It's kind of an act of resurrection, because the book was wildly successful," he explains, noting that it received a rave review in The New York Times in 1973.

"I'm trying to resurrect it for a larger audience and that's the exciting part, because every person that hears it would never have a chance to hear itwithout me, unless they somehow found a copy at a used bookstore."

The memoir tells the story of Cutler's mother witnessing "an act of a good Samaritan coming forward in a very difficult situation" thatstayed with her throughout herlife.

The theatre adaptation is called Magnificenceand serves as a condensed, dramatized version of the same true story that lasts under an hour.

It presents the author's perception of anIndigenous woman "coming forward and doing something of tremendous courage for no personal gain" in the face of avillage tragedy.

"Actually, I tear up every time I tell it," said Cutler."And that's why I really wanted to do this show,and it took a long time to figure out how to do it."

He spent years thinking about how to develop it as a storytelling show, and received valuable feedback from his family and a local Indigenous organization.

Cutler said he's hoping the story will touch people across Canada, as he tours first Montreal and thenOttawa and Winnipeg this summer.

"I'm trying to think of it as as a growth process," he said. "I'm very excited about it.I think it's going to touch people because it touches me."

Magnificenceruns at the Freestanding Room (4324 Saint-Laurent, Suite 300) from May 29 to June 15. The venue is accessible only by climbing two flights of stairs. Tickets are $12.