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Livestreamed on this page Monday 26 March at 6:30 p.m. EDT (New York) / 5:30 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 3:30 p.m. PDT (San Francisco).

New York, NY, United States
Monday 26 March 2018

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Jean-François Côté: The Revival of Aboriginal Theater Metamorphosis of the Americas

Monday 26 March 2018
Cover image from “The Revival of Aboriginal Theater Metamorphosis of the Americas” by Jean-François Côté.
Cover image from “The Revival of Aboriginal Theater Metamorphosis of the Americas” by Jean-François Côté.

 

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center presented Jean-François Côté: The Revival of Aboriginal Theater Metamorphosis of the Americas livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday 26 March at 6:30 p.m. EDT (New York) / 5:30 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 3:30 p.m. PDT (San Francisco). Follow @HowlRound on Twitter for updates, and use #howlround.

Join us for an evening exploring the work of Canadian sociologist Jean-François Côté, whose latest book focuses on indigenous theatre in Canada as a new form of expression within the transcultural transformation of the Americas. Indigenous theatre, Côté argues, has been experiencing a renaissance for over thirty years—drawing from its traditional forms, but equally inspired by modern avant-garde theatre artists. The dramatic works of Canadian artists Yves Sioui Durand & Catherine Joncas (Ondinnok Ensemble), Monique Mojica, and Drew Hayden Taylor are in line with theatrical experiments of Antonin Artaud, Gertrude Stein, and Bertolt Brecht. Using the stage as a contemporary reflection on the current situation of Native Americans, the revival of indigenous theatre transcends the theatrical experience.

A lecture will be followed by a discussion with Jean-François Côté, Muriel Miguel & Gloria Miguel (Spiderwoman Theater), and Frank Hentschker.

jean francois cote headshot
Photo courtesy of the artist.

Jean-François Côté is a professor of sociology at Université du Québec à Montréal. He specializes in sociology of culture, theory and epistemology. He has published 12 books (single-authored, edited, and coedited), among which are Poe, Stein, WarholFigures de la modernité esthétique (La Lettre Volée, 2003), Entretiens avec Wajdi Mouawad (Leméac, 2005), George Herbert Mead’s Concept of SocietyA Critical Reconstruction (Routledge, 2015), and most recently La Renaissance du théâtre autochtoneMétamorphose des Amériques I(Presses de l’Université Laval, 2017). His current interests focus on theatre, law, and transculturation in the Americas. He was a Fulbright Scholar (2011-12) in the US and a guest professor at various universities in Mexico, Austria, and France.

Muriel Miguel is a director, choreographer, playwright, actor and educator. She has directed almost all of Spiderwoman’s shows since their debut in 1976, in which time, they have written and produced over twenty original works for the theatre. She has choreographed Throw Away Kids and She Knew She Was She for the Banff Centre for the Arts. She was the director of The Scrubbing Project with Turtle Gals Performance Ensemble in Toronto, More then Feathers and Beads with Murielle Borst Tarrant, and Evening in Paris with Raven Spirit Dance Company in Vancouver. She has worked with Native Earth Performing Arts in Toronto as an actor and dramaturg for their annual Weesageechak Begins to Dance Play Reading Festival. As an actor, she created the role of Philomena Moosetail in The Rez Sisters, written by Tomson Highway. This play was a seminal work in the development of a First Nations play repertory in Canada. She played Aunt Shadie in The Unnatural and Accidental Women by Marie Clements; Martha in Buz’Gem Blues by Drew Hayden Taylor and Spirit Woman in BONES: An Aboriginal Dance Opera. She most recently performed in the off-Broadway hit, The Lily’s Revenge at Here! Arts Center. She has created one woman shows Hot’ N’ SoftTrail of the Otter and most recently Red Mother which was produced by Spiderwoman Theater at La MaMa E.T.C. in May 2010. As an educator, Muriel was an Assistant Professor of Drama at Bard College. She is a pioneer in the development of a culture–based methodology for the training of Indigenous theatre students and is an instructor of Indigenous Performance at the Centre for Indigenous Theatre (CIT) full time program in Toronto. She is also Program Director for CIT’s three week summer intensive which has run both at Trent University in Ontario and at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta. She was a Program Director for the Aboriginal Dance Program and an instructor of Indigenous performance at The Banff Centre for the Arts for seven years. She has developed four shows for The Minnesota Native American AIDS Task Force working with inner city native youth on HIV/AIDS issues. www.spiderwomantheater.org

Gloria Miguel is Kuna/ Rappahannock. She studied drama at Oberlin College and is a founding member of Spiderwoman Theater. She has worked extensively in film and television. With Spiderwoman Theater, she has toured throughout Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. She toured the United States in Grandma, a one-woman show, toured Canada as Pelaija Patchnose in the original Native Earth production of Tomson Highway’s The Rez Sisters and performed in Native Earth’s Son of Ayash in Toronto. She performed as Coyote/Ritalinc in Jessica, a Northern Lights Production in Edmonton, Canada and was nominated for a Sterling Award for best-supporting actress. She was a drama consultant for the Minnesota Native American AIDS Task Force to develop a play on AIDS. She was a drama teacher at the Eastern District YMCA in Brooklyn, NY and a visiting professor of drama at Brandon University in Canada. She attended and performed at the Mending the Sacred Hoop Domestic Violence Conference in Flagstaff, Arizona. She taught drama workshops at the Native American Writers and Artist Forum in Red Mesa, Grey Hills, and Rough Rock, Navajo Nation Reservation. She performed in Beijing, China at the 4th World Woman’s Conference. She and Lisa Mayo received a Rockefeller Grant and funding from the Jerome Foundation to create Nis Bundor: Daughters from the Stars. She taught Drama at Rough Rock Navajo High School in Arizona. She has created a one-woman show A Kuna Grows in Brooklyn. She has a DFA honorary degree from Miami University in Oxford, OH and is a lifetime member of the Lee Strasberg Institute. In March 2006, she appeared in the Spanish film Caotica Ana in Madrid, Spain. She has presented her new one-woman show Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue at The Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC; at Story-ing the Human Being: Two Generations of Native Women on Stage at the University of Toronto; with AMERINDA at NYTW Annex and Ohio Northern University’s 9th International Theatre Festival and at La MaMa E.T.C. as part of the Elder Project . She has most recently performed in Chocolate Woman Dreams the Milky Way in Vancouver and Toronto. www.spiderwomantheater.org

Spiderwoman Theater presents exceptional theatre performance and offers theater training and education rooted in an urban Indigenous performance practice. We entertain and challenge our audiences and create an environment where the Indigenous, women’s and arts communities can come together to examine and discuss their cultural, social and political concerns.

 

About HowlRound TV

HowlRound TV is a global, commons-based peer produced, open access livestreaming and video archive project stewarded by the nonprofit HowlRound. HowlRound TV is a free and shared resource for live conversations and performances relevant to the world's performing arts and cultural fields. Its mission is to break geographic isolation, promote resource sharing, and to develop our knowledge commons collectively. Participate in a community of peer organizations revolutionizing the flow of information, knowledge, and access in our field by becoming a producer and co-producing with us. Learn more by going to our participate page. For any other queries, email [email protected], or call Vijay Mathew at +1 917.686.3185 Signal/WhatsApp. View the video archive of past events.

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