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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

The Living Presence of Our History Part IX
Video
The Living Presence of Our History Part IX
A Conversation with Indigenous Screenwriters Regarding Representation on Screen
Sunday 15 October 2023
Massachusetts
Kinship, Solidarity, and Working Towards Everyone’s Survival
Essay
Kinship, Solidarity, and Working Towards Everyone’s Survival
by Mary Amanda McNeil , Samora Pinderhughes, Storme Webber
14 September 2023
On Black and Indigenous Shared Kinship Futures
Essay
On Black and Indigenous Shared Kinship Futures
by Kyle T. Mays, Amber Starks
13 September 2023
Les Productions Ondinnok
Essay

Les Productions Ondinnok

On the Experience of Making Indigenous Theatre in Quebec, Canada / Les Productions Ondinnok: Sobre la Experiencia de Hacer Teatro Indígena en Quebec en Canadá

11 June 2017

In this installment, Choreographer Carlos Rivera talks about indigenous theatre in Quebec, highlighting the work of Yves Sioui Durand and Catherine Juntas of Les Productions Ondinnok.

The Native Language of Inclusion
Essay

The Native Language of Inclusion

An Interview with Ty Defoe

21 May 2017

Ryan Leeds interviews Ty Defoe about winning the Jonathan Larson Grant, his show Crane: On Earth, In Sky, and how his identity influences his work.

Finding a Rock and Gaining an Audience
Essay

Finding a Rock and Gaining an Audience

24 March 2017

Madeline Sayet reflects on her ancestor Sachem Mahomet Weyonomon, and advocates supporting Native stories and theatremakers.

Letters from Canadians to Americans
Essay

Letters from Canadians to Americans

Yvette Nolan

14 February 2017

In the first installment of this new series, a collaboration with Canada’s SpiderWebShow, Yvette Nolan ponders the porous boundary between the United States and Canada, and the importance of theatrical communication in difficult political times.

The Thanksgiving Play
Essay

The Thanksgiving Play

an interview with playwright Larissa FastHorse

23 November 2016

Dramaturg Deanie Vallone talks with playwright Larissa FastHorse about The Thanksgiving Play, writing a play with all white characters, and the obligation artists and institutions have to their area’s Indigenous community.

Getting Specific
Essay

Getting Specific

One Playwright’s Complicated Casting Choices

27 September 2016

Kicking off #IdentityWeek, Playwright Larissa FastHorse discusses workshopping her play What Would Crazy Horse Do? at Santa Clara University, and advocates the playwright’s voice in casting choices. 

Native Communities and Climate Change, Center Stage
Essay

Native Communities and Climate Change, Center Stage

19 September 2016

Playwright Jaisey Bates urges us to include Native communities and artists in the work to combat climate change and in the work we put on stage.

The 2016 TCG National Conference: Theatre Nation
Video

The 2016 TCG National Conference: Theatre Nation

Thursday 23 June to Saturday 25 June 2016
Washington, D.C., United States

Theatre Communications Group presented the 2016 TCG National Conference: Theatre Nation (ASL-interpreted) livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Thursday 23 June to Saturday 25 June. Share your thoughts and media with hashtags #TCG16 and #howlround in all social media platforms. Follow @TCG and @HowlRoundTV in Twitter for updates.

Whose Story to Tell? Akron, Ohio Relates to the Indigenous Amazon
Essay

Whose Story to Tell? Akron, Ohio Relates to the Indigenous Amazon

7 June 2016

Amy Schwabauer on Death of a Man by Jairo Cuesta in Akron, Ohio.

Discussion: Arts/Culture: Social Justice and Social Change in relation to Indigenous Communities 
Video

Discussion: Arts/Culture: Social Justice and Social Change in relation to Indigenous Communities 

Safe Harbors Indigenous Arts/Theater Collective, La MaMa, and CultureHub

Wednesday 6 April 2016
New York, NY, United States

La MaMa in New York City presented Safe Harbors Indigenous Arts/Theater Collective at Culturehub's Arts/Culture: Social Justice and Social Change discussion livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 6 April at 12:30 p.m.-5 p.m. EDT (New York) / 11:30 p.m.-4 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. MDT (Alberta) / 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m. PDT (Vancouver) / 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m. AKDT (Alaska) / 6:30 a.m.-11 a.m. HAST (Hawaii) / 16:30-21:00 GMT / 5:30 p.m.-10 p.m. BST (London) / 18:30-23:00 CEST (Brussels). On Twitter, use #howlround and follow @LaMamaETC@CultureHubNYC, and @HowlRoundTV

The Arizona Performing Arts Summit at Xico Arte Y Cultura
Video

The Arizona Performing Arts Summit at Xico Arte Y Cultura

Sunday 20 March 2016
Phoenix, AZ, United States

New England Foundation for the Arts and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, in association with the Tucson Pima Arts CouncilDNAWORKS, and the Performing Arts Department at the Institute of American Indian Arts presented the The Arizona Performing Arts Summit livestreamed from Xico Arte Y Cultura  in Phoenix on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Sunday 20 March at 12 p.m. PDT - 6 p.m. PDT (Los Angeles) / 1 p.m. MDT - 7 p.m. MDT (Denver) / 2 p.m. CDT - 8 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 3 p.m. EDT - 9 p.m. EDT (New York) / 19:00 GMT - 01:00 GMT (London). In Twitter, use #howlround and follow @NEFA_Boston and @howlroundtv

Mourning Becomes Arctic Requiem
Essay

Mourning Becomes Arctic Requiem

The Story of Luke Cole and Kivalina

22 September 2015

Playwright Sharmon Hilfinger discusses how she developed Artic Requiem: The Story of Kivalina with composer Joan McMillen.

Performance of My Father’s Bones about Olympian Jim Thorpe
Video

Performance of My Father’s Bones about Olympian Jim Thorpe

Monday, June 29 2015
St. Paul, MN, United States

New Native Theatre presented a staged reading of My Father’s Bones in St. Paul, Minnesota, at the Mid-Year Conference of the National Congress of the American Indians. My Father’s Bones is a play by Suzan Shown Harjo and Mary Kathryn Nagle that recounts the struggle of Jack, Bill and Richard Thorpe to recover the remains of their father—the unmatched Olympian Jim Thorpe—so that he can buried with their relatives in Sac and Fox Nation land. The play was livestreamed on the global commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday, June 29 at 1:30 p.m. EDT (New York) / 12:30 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 11:30 a.m. MDT (Denver) / 10:30 a.m. PDT (Vancouver). A talkback will follow.

Native Theatre in Oregon
Essay

Native Theatre in Oregon

26 June 2015

Waylon Lenk considers how the University of Oregon and Southern Oregon University are doing Native theatre and compares their models to his approach to organizing a reading series by Native authors at Oregon State University.

My Father’s Bones, a play by Suzan Shown Harjo and Mary Kathryn Nagle about Olympian Jim Thorpe
Video

My Father’s Bones, a play by Suzan Shown Harjo and Mary Kathryn Nagle about Olympian Jim Thorpe

3 June 2015
Oklahoma City, OK, United States

On June 3, 2015, the Native American Rights Fund presented a staged reading of My Father’s Bones in Oklahoma City, OK, a play by Suzan Shown Harjo and Mary Kathryn Nagle that recounts the struggle of Jack, Bill and Richard Thorpe to recover the remains of their father—the unmatched Olympian Jim Thorpe—so that he can buried with their relatives in Sac and Fox Nation land.

A Call for Solidarity: A Real-Time Networked Performance Linking Hawaii, Alaska, and NYC
Video

A Call for Solidarity: A Real-Time Networked Performance Linking Hawaii, Alaska, and NYC

Wednesday 15 April 2015
Alaska, Hawaii, & New York City; United States

A Call for Solidarity—a real-time networked performance linking Hawaii, Alaska, and New York City—livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 15 April at 8 p.m. EDT (New York) / 7 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 5 p.m. PDT (Los Angeles) / 4 p.m. AKDT (Alaska) / 2 p.m. HAST (Hawaii).

Sliver of a Full Moon, A Play About Justice for Native Women at Yale Law School
Video

Sliver of a Full Moon, A Play About Justice for Native Women at Yale Law School

Tuesday 31 March 2015
New Haven, CT, United States

Yale Law School presented a reading of Sliver of a Full Moon, the powerful play written by playwright Mary Kathryn Nagle, from the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, and Mohegan Director Madeline Sayet livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Tuesday 31 March at 6:30 p.m. EDT (New York) / 5:30 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 4:30 p.m. MDT (Denver) / 3:30 p.m. PDT (Los Angeles) / 2:30 p.m. AKDT (Anchorage). 

Welcome to Mississippi
Essay

Welcome to Mississippi

17 March 2015

Carlton Turner's address on the state of the arts in Mississipi from the Mississipi Performing Arts Summit, held February 15-16, 2015 in Jackson, MS.

What Sort of Bridge Will You Build?
Essay

What Sort of Bridge Will You Build?

1 March 2015

In the last installation of the Native Voices series, Madeline Sayet explores how we can use story to build bridges between worlds.

Art
Essay

Art

A Prescription for My Stomachache

28 February 2015

Christopher K. Morgan explores what it is to feel at home in a place he’s never lived, and how to use art to cure his need for home.

Two actors onstage facing each other.
Do White Playwrights Think About This?
Essay

Do White Playwrights Think About This?

27 February 2015

Larissa FastHorse explores the issues she deals with as a Native playwright, from finding an agent to what happens when she has to un-Native American a character.

Andrew Jackson Is Not As Bad As You Think—He’s Far, Far Bloodier
Essay

Andrew Jackson Is Not As Bad As You Think—He’s Far, Far Bloodier

26 February 2015

Suzan Shown Harjo, a recent recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, discusses the prevalence of redface on American stages and how disrespect of Native identity extends to land and bodies.

A Red Face in the Crowd
Essay

A Red Face in the Crowd

Identities of a Native American Two-Spirit Writer

25 February 2015

Ty Defoe explores what his many identities make him, what it is to be two-spirit, and the kind of art it has inspired him to make.

The Current State of Native Theatre
Essay

The Current State of Native Theatre

24 February 2015

Randy Reinholz shares his experiences as producing artistic director of The Autry—the only Equity theatre dedicated to Native playwrights.

The Indian(s) in the Attic—Divining a Message from August: Osage County
Essay

The Indian(s) in the Attic—Divining a Message from August: Osage County

23 February 2015

Native voices week continues! August: Osage County’s Kimberly Guerrero explores her work on the show, and what lesson the American theatre can learn from it.