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Indigenous, First Nations, Native Theatre

In this section, content focuses on the work of Indigenous, First Nations, and Native theatremakers. Mary Kathryn Nagle’s series Native Voices is a great starting point, as are series specifically focusing on the performance practices of Kānaka Maoli, the Indigenous people of Hawai‘i, and on Alaska Native theatre.

The Latest

Essay
Stories, Seeds, Survivance
by Fidaa Ataya, Dovie Thomason
29 June 2026
Video
Wehiwehi Artist Showcase at Bishop Museum
Performance and Panel Discussion Featuring Six Native Hawaiian Artists
Friday 19 June 2026
Honolulu, Hawai'i
Podcast
LOUD Queer Youth Theatre: Sustaining Youth-Led, Adult-Supported Arts Community
by Nicolas Shannon Savard, Keyshia Pearl, Roney Jones
5 May 2026
event poster for A Conversation with Indigenous Screenwriters Regarding Representation on Screen.
Video

A Conversation with Indigenous Screenwriters Regarding Representation on Screen

Sunday 15 October 2023
Massachusetts

In this conversation with Native American screenwriters on the importance of seeing Indigenous narratives on screen, the panelists explored how these narratives affect Native and non-Native communities today and the possible steps to educate, decolonize, and make changes using an Indigenous lens.

Promotional graphic for "Black and Indigenous Futures Aligning".
Video
Thursday 21 September 2023
Boston, Massachusetts

This discussion explored visions of activism, advocacy, co-leadership, and solidarity in Afro-Indigenous, Black, and Indigenous futures.

Promotional graphic for "Black and Indigenous Histories to the Now".
Video
Wednesday 20 September 2023
Boston, Massachusetts

This discussion explored the foundations of Black and Indigenous co-leadership solidarity, shared understanding, and movement building.

Three separate headshots for three artists, stitched together.
Essay
14 September 2023

As part of the Black and Indigenous Futures series, this conversation convenes Samora Pinderhughes, Storme Webber, and Mary Amanda McNeil to consider the ways that kinship and solidarity across broader collectives can coexist and mutually enrich one another through intentional practice.

Two photos merged, depicting a woman and man side by side.
Essay
13 September 2023

As part of the Black and Indigenous Futures series, Amber Starks and Kyle Mays discuss the siloing of Afro-Indigenous identity, the opportunities and challenges of developing Black and Indigenous solidarity, and the potential to build a future more deeply rooted in kinship.

A man holding cards for a speech and a woman who smiles and claps stand together on stage.
Essay
12 September 2023

David Howse and Ronee Penoi, co-leaders of ArtsEmerson, introduce the Black and Indigenous Futures Series with an essay that discusses their commitment to a shared leadership approach that foregrounds solidarity between Black and Indigenous communities.

Four actors sit on chairs on a set made to look like a children's classroom, smiling and talking with one another.
Essay
28 August 2023

After directing Larissa FastHorse’s The Thanksgiving Play at her midwestern college, Indigenous theatremaker Sierra Rosetta traveled to New York to see the same play on Broadway. She discusses the way this milestone production—which made FastHorse the first known Native American woman playwright on Broadway—and her own work push for a future in which Native theatremakers’ presence on professional stages is standard, not novel.

A performer proudly wields a prop weight overhead during a show.
Essay
11 July 2023

Robert Hubbard reviews Larissa FastHorse’s Wicoun, a transformative story of a teen finding power through gender and cultural identity—with the support of some Lakota superheroes.

headshots of Tammy Haili'ōpua Baker and Markus Wessendorf.
Video

A Conversation with Tammy Haili'ōpua Baker and Markus Wessendorf

Monday 10 July 2023
United States

A conversation with Tammy Haili'ōpua Baker and Markus Wessendorf about the history, curriculum, theatre productions, research, and current projects of the Hana Keaka (Hawaiian Theatre) program at the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM). The MFA in Hawaiian Theatre was established in the fall of 2012 and has already received national and international recognition. A new PhD concentration in Hawaiian and Indigenous Performance at UHM starts this fall. These two tracks are the only graduate programs in the United States with a specific focus on Indigenous performance.

event poster for IETM Aarhus Plenary Meeting 2023.
Video

Living on the Edge

Monday 12 June and Wednesday 14 June 2023
Aarhus, Denmark

The IETM Aarhus Plenary Meeting 2023 invited its participants to discuss and digest the ethical and practical role of the performing arts—and of the artist—in the face of climate emergency. It presented a program that aims to provoke new thoughts and inspire action, awareness, and positive impact.

Four actors sit in a classroom set.
Essay
6 June 2023

Holly L. Derr talks with Larissa FastHorse about Indigeneity and misogyny in The Thanksgiving Play, using satire to create change, and rewriting Peter Pan.

Event poster for safe havens freedom talk Indigenous Languages: Memory, Poetry, and Music.
Video

A Safe Havens Freedom Talk

Tuesday 30 May 2023
Mexico City

The power of language, memory, and creativity are intertwined in this performance featuring readings of poetry written in Zoque, Tzotzil, and Spanish accompanied by music composed and arranged by musicians from the Chiapanec culture, an extinct language but one that continues to manifest itself culturally in rituals and festive practices.

From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image.
Podcast
5 April 2023

Carlos Uriona and Jennifer Johnson, co-artistic directors at Double Edge Theatre, connect with Jeffrey Mosser to discuss how working in rural Massachusetts for over thirty years has enabled them to share art on the world stage.

event poster for A Conversation with Indigenous Authors Regarding Representation in Literature.
Video

A Conversation with Indigenous Authors Regarding Representation in Literature

Sunday 26 March 2023
Massachusetts, United States

A panel of scholars and local Indigenous authors will discuss the importance of our stories in literature. We will explore how these narratives affect Native and non-Native communities today and the possible steps to educate, decolonize, and make changes using an Indigenous lens.

A woman sits and speaks into a microphone while others look at her.
Essay
9 February 2023

Theatremaker and advocate Ronee Penoi shares her inspired keynote speech from the Public Theater’s 2023 Under the Radar Professional Symposium.

Building Our Own Tables Season 3 teaser image with guest headshot.
Podcast
11 January 2023

How exciting is it to transform our future and be the future ancestors we dream for? Yura Sapi opens the space with a gratitude ritual and shares about what’s to come on the new season of the Building Our Tables podcast. Topics for this season include evolutionary times, the four elements, and sounds of nature.

Critical Stages in Malawian Contemporary Theatre teaser image with the title at the top and a picture of the guest in the middle.
Podcast
9 January 2023

When filmmaker Thomas Chibambo founded the Blantyre Arts Festival in 2009, it was Malawi’s first multi-disciplinary arts festival. He joins host Fumbani Innot Phiri, Jr. to discuss the Blantyre Arts Festival’s current plans to better support theatrical performance and his own work to establish an Arts Council in Malawi.

portrait of Murielle Borst-Tarrant.
Video

Performance and Post-Show Discussion at Brown University

Tuesday 29 November 2022
United States

My family first came to New York City in the late 1800’s from Virginia and bought a house in Brooklyn and raised four generations. This story is about my family’s blood flow that is here on this land of New York City. How we as a family had to keep tradition alive. The performance and post-show discussion livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network on Tuesday 29 November 2022. This video archive is closed captioned.

two actors with their hands on their hips performing on stage.
Video

Seeking to Build a Better Understanding of the Challenges and Triumphs of Theatremaking in New England

Wednesday 9 November and Wednesday 16 November
New England

The National Theater Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts presented the 2022 National Theater Project Regional Convening in New England livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 9 November and Wednesday 16 November 2022.

Eight actors in a space with hardwood floors dancing together.
Essay
14 November 2022

Writer and educator Jonathan P. Eburne details how he first came to know of Double Edge Theatre and the Ohketeau Cultural Center and discusses their unique approach to worldmaking, land sharing, and theatremaking.

event poster for  The Living Presence of Our History, Part VII.
Video

A Panel Focusing on Native Playwrights

Sunday 13 November 2022
Massachusetts, US

Ohketeau Cultural Center and Double Edge Theatre presented the conversation The Living Presence of Our History, Part VII livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Sunday 13 November 2022 at 10 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 12 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 1 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

photograph of posaka dancers performing on stage.
Video

Kinding Sindaw Celebrates Our 30th Anniversary !

Saturday 22 October 2022
New York City

La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club presents Posaka with Kinding Sindaw livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Saturday 22 October 2022 at 1 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 3 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 4 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

A woman in a traditional garb stands outside facing an audience.
Essay
25 July 2022

Robert Hubbard discusses the South Dakota Shakespeare Festival production of Othello, which Tara Moses adapted and directed through an Indigenous Futurist lens. The resulting production employed its Shakespearean source text to model solidarity between Tribal Sovereignty and Black Liberation movements.

event poster for the gathering 2022.
Video

Productions, Readings, Discussions, and Workshops Focusing on Climate Change, Immigration, and Indigeneity

Wednesday 4 May to Saturday 7 May 2022
United States

The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. presented The Gathering, livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv from Wednesday 4 May to Saturday 7 May 2022.

A shirtless man holds up a book.
Essay
20 April 2022

In Martin Domecq’s contribution to the Climate Emergency series, he puts four Brazillian performance art pieces in conversation to draw upon the poetic, political, and civic lessons they offer. These performances—which range from installations to solo and group performances—model possible paradigms that work against ecological crisis.

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