SOURCE: "On the Road with Tomson Highway's Blues Harmonica in Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing," in Canadian Literature, No. 144, Spring, 1995, pp. 113-24.

In the following essay, Imboden discusses the role of the blues harmonica player in Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing stating that while the player does not participate in the drama as a character, "the musician's absence-presence is crucial for the full development of the play's potentiality."

Tomson Highway observes in the Production Notes that precede his play Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing:

The 'sound-scape' of Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing was mostly provided for by a musician playing, live, on harmonica, off to the side. The 'dream-scape' of the play is laced all the way through with Zachary Jeremiah Keechigeesik's 'idealized' from of harmonica playing, with a definite "blues" flavor.

The harmonica player invites the reader/audience to enter the dream, but...