Native Voices at the Autry’s production of Please Do Not Touch the Indians by Joseph A. Dandurand (Kwantlen) starring Arigon Starr (Kickapoo/Creek) and Andrew Roa (Shasta/Aztec). Photo by Tony Dontscheff/Courtesy Autry Museum

By Ann Haugo

For over two centuries, misrepresentations of Native people ruled the American stage. From Metamora (an 1829 “noble savage” character created in a play by the same name) to characters television would inherit (Tonto, anyone?), Native roles were distorted, trapped in (usually) white writers’, directors’ and producers’ ideas of who “Indians” were, relics of a sometimes romantic, sometimes barbaric past.

That all began to change in the 1960s, gradually at first, and then with more urgency as visionary and passionate Native leaders emerged in the entertainment industry. Among them, theater directors and playwrights, who brought their own stories--and their people’s stories--to American stages.

Since the 1960s, increasingly greater numbers of Native artists have gained creative control of the theatrical stage, writing, directing and producing. Today, many Native theater companies exist across the United States and Canada, and Native playwrights are beginning to see their work produced in major non-Native theaters. Join us as we peruse the state of Native theater, beginning with a look back at the roots of the movement.

In 1964, the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe launched a theater program. Drama instructor Rolland Meinholtz, music instructor Louis Ballard (Quapaw/Cherokee) and dance instructor Rosalie Jones (Pembina Chippewa) worked with Art Director Lloyd Kiva New (Cherokee), who would later become IAIA director. New sought to build an Indigenous theater aesthetic from “the framework of Indian traditions,” looking to Indigenous storytelling, dance and ceremony for the raw material.

Three significant Native theater companies were founded in the 1970s. Each sought to speak to Native people about their own lives, creating stories and characters that came from the fabric of Native America. In 1972, the Native American Theatre Ensemble premiered in New York City. Brought together by Hanay Geiogamah (Kiowa) and half of its company drawn from IAIA alumni, NATE performed plays written by Geiogamah or developed through collaboration, and led by example: a Native theater could survive. Geiogamah’s Native approach was similar to New’s: Combine Euroamerican and Native performance qualities but stay true to Indigenous stories and characters.

In 1975, Kuna/Rappahannock sisters Lisa Mayo, Gloria Miguel and Muriel Miguel, along with a multicultural group of several other women, formed Spiderwoman Theater, which would become the longest surviving Native theater outside of a university (see sidebar). Meanwhile, playwrights such as Bruce King (Oneida) and Bill Yellow Robe (Assiniboine) (see sidebar) began writing plays that would start receiving attention from the theater world.

Canada’s Native theater movement would follow by about a decade but would take hold more quickly. To explain the greater development of Canadian Native theater, many artists point to differences in funding between the U.S. and Canada or to the lack of a central training institution dedicated to Native theater in the U.S. IAIA’s theater program was dissolved in 1996 because of federal budget cuts. Haskell Indian Nations University’s Thunderbird Theatre program, founded in 1974, relied on little institutional support and had only one full-time instructor. In contrast, Canada’s Centre for Indigenous Theatre was well funded and continues to thrive today. Native Earth Performing Arts and De-ba-jeh-mu-jig Theatre Group, major Canadian companies founded in that era, also grew into relatively stable institutions.

The ’90s and early years of this millennium have been marked by increasing interest in Native theater by mainstream and regional theaters, with major productions by several playwrights appearing at large theater centers, an Equity company (Native Voices at the Autry) and considerable interest in publishing Native scripts—though some artists have commented that it is still far easier to publish a Native script than to produce one. Certainly, challenges lie ahead. But the move is on.


ACTIVE NATIVE THEATER COMPANIES

Native Voices at the Autry
Professional actors Randy Reinholz (Choctaw) and Jean Bruce Scott organized the first Native Voices Festival in 1994 at Illinois State University, where both were teaching. Now a full Equity company in partnership with the Autry National Center of Los Angeles, Native Voices at the Autry (NVA) commissions one new play and mounts two Equity productions each year, while continuing workshops and outreach.

Its Young Native Voices: Theater Education Project also pairs Native youth with professional mentors. The newer Reservation Outreach component draws on local institutions with theater expertise. On the Coeur d’Alene Schitsu’umsh Reservation, middle-school students have been paired with University of Idaho and North Idaho College graduate students and faculty, writing scripts and developing staged readings. Reinholz observes that self-sustaining programs are the goal, with NVA as catalyst, pulling key players together.

In May, NVA brings The Red Road by Arigon Starr (Kickapoo/Creek) to Australia, as the official U.S. representative to an international conference for youth theater. That event follows the staged reading of Diane Glancy’s Salvage at the Native Theater Festival at New York’s Public Theater, a leading off-Broadway company, and the full production of Teaching Disco Square Dancing to Our Elders: A Class Presentation by Larissa FastHorse (Sicangu Nation) at the Autry’s Wells Fargo Theater. (See Happening this issue.)

Glancy and FastHorse’s plays were developed in NVA’s Playwrights’ Retreat, which brings four playwrights to the Autry for one-week intensives with professional directors, dramaturges and actors. Each play receives a well-publicized reading at the Autry’s Festival of New Plays and is considered for Equity production the following year. A new initiative invites Literary Managers & Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA) members to the Playwrights Retreat. Part of NVA’s goal of bringing Native theater to wider audiences, LMDA participation promises major regional theaters’ increasing interest in Native-authored plays.

Native Earth Performing Arts
With its 2007–2008 season, Toronto’s Native Earth Performing Arts (NEPA) celebrates its 25th anniversary. Canada’s oldest professional Native theater, NEPA has earned multiple awards for excellence, leading the charge that cemented Native theater’s presence in professional Canadian theater.

Like most Native theaters, NEPA is committed to telling the stories of Native people in the contemporary world. Understanding the potential impact a vital theater can have in the larger Native community, NEPA interprets its role to include community outreach and communication. Productions routinely use Native languages on stage, educational outreach programs are regular fare, and the company does not shy away from difficult or possibly controversial subject matter.

NEPA’s annual “new works” festival, Weesageechak Begins to Dance, has gained international recognition. Inviting playwrights together to workshop scripts in development, NEPA has produced some of the most successful Native theater in Canada. Artistic Director Yvette Nolan comments that given the difficulties facing any theater, the stability that NEPA enjoys today is cause to celebrate: “We’re here. We’re healthy. We have the support of a community of artists, both emerging and established. The quality of the work just gets better and better.”

Spiderwoman Theater
Organized in 1975 as a feminist theater collective, Spiderwoman Theater developed a creative process called “storyweaving.” Their promotional literature notes, “We translate our personal stories, dreams and images into movement, and refine them into the essential threads of human experience.” Originally a multiethnic company, by 1980 Spiderwoman regular members were Muriel Miguel, Gloria Miguel and Lisa Mayo, three sisters with Kuna and Rappahannock heritage.

Unapologetically political, Spiderwoman pieces examine contemporary issues in Native America, from plastic shamanism to sexuality, always with a mix of humor and satire. With Native communities, whether with urban youth in an HIV/AIDS survivors’ program or a reservation community such as Arizona’s Gila River, Spiderwoman encourages participants to tell their own stories, weaving them into a tapestry that reflects the community’s traditions, hopes and challenges.

In 2007, a conference held in Spiderwoman’s honor at the Native American Women Playwrights Archive exemplified Spiderwoman’s impact. As Monique Mojica (Gloria Miguel’s daughter) and Murielle Borst (Muriel Miguel’s daughter), both actors and writers, and others gathered there attested, Spiderwoman has fostered the careers of two subsequent generations of theater artists, establishing a performance tradition that entertains audiences while asking important and necessary questions.

Thunderbird Theatre
In 1974, Haskell Indian Nations University initiated the Thunderbird Theatre program. Forming a producing club—directed and guided by faculty member Pat Melody—the Thunderbird premiered works by N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa), Bruce King (Oneida) and Thunderbird alum Dianne Reyner (Kiowa) and produced many works by Native and non-Native playwrights.

A “signature” performance from 1980 to 1995 was Songs of Life, an original piece incorporating traditional teaching stories brought by company members. For the 1980 production, company members sought permission from their elders to use tribal stories. As students left or graduated, their stories also left, and new stories were added, similarly approved by elders. The result: a fluid, multitribal production incorporating acting, traditional and modern dance, and music. Because the Thunderbird Theatre was self-sustaining, touring productions raised from $10,000 to $20,000 annually; Songs of Life was a strong contributor to that touring program.

In 2007, after 33 years as director, Melody announced her retirement. Haskell’s hiring of director/playwright/scholar Julie Pearson-Little Thunder (Creek) hopefully signals the institution’s continued commitment to the Thunderbird program.

De-ba-jeh-mu-jig Theatre Group
De-ba-jeh-mu-jig Theatre Group operates on Ontario, Canada’s Wikwemikong Reserve, presenting works in Ojibwe and Cree. Artistic Director Joseph Osawabine notes its founding purpose was to allow “for aboriginal youth to see their own lives, stories and experiences reflected on stage in a way not accessible in mainstream Canadian theater.” Today, with both professional and educational goals driving the company, De-ba-jeh-mu-jig welcomes a new 125-seat theater space and looks forward to a published collection of works staged by the company.

A current initiative, “Searching for the Trickster in the 21st Century,” seeks original stories about the iconic trickster; eight will be selected and adapted into plays. The educational component is strong; artists prepare classroom activities and students create short works on the trickster theme. “The community outreach work we do is equally important as the professional work,” says Osawabine. “Particularly in reaching out to the youth, we are reaching out to the next generation of artists who will carry on the legacy we create now, just as we now walk in the footsteps of our mentors.”

Other Notable Drama Companies and Resources

American Indian Community House—Performance program and space has been vital to the development of Native theater in the New York City area.

American Indian Repertory Theatre—Founded in Lawrence, Kansas by former Thunderbird Theatre director Pat Melody and Thunderbird alums including Dianne Reyner (Kiowa).

The Centre for Indigenous Theatre—Toronto based institution for professional Native theater training.

Coatlicue/Las Colorado Theatre Company—Composed of Chichimec/Otomi sisters Elvira and Hortensia Colorado, who develop their own work.

Native American Women Playwrights Archive of Miami University of Ohio—Dedicated to promoting the work of Native women playwrights.

Project HOOP (Honoring Our Origins and Peoples through Native Theatre, Education, and Community Development)—Founded by Hanay Geiogamah (Kiowa/Delaware) and Jaye T. Darby, Ph.D., to establish or strengthen theater programs at tribal colleges, develop curriculum and promote Native theater.

Red Eagle Soaring—A Seattle company with a focus on urban youth programs; dedicated to the memory of artist John Kauffman (Nez Perce).

Red Earth—Founded in 1974 in Seattle, Red Earth Performing Arts disbanded in the late 1980s but was revived in 2003. It plans to develop a professional theater and collaborate with area universities.

Thunder Road Theater Company (formerly Tulsa Indian Actors’ Workshop)—Founded by Julie Pearson-Little Thunder (Creek) and Janna Rhoads (Kiowa/Caddo). Produces Native works and offers training for actors, directors and designers.

Turtle Gals—Toronto-based performance ensemble with Michelle St. John, Jani Lauzon, Cheri Maracle, and Falen Johnson; also included founding member Monique Mojica, who resigned in 2006.

urban ink—founded by Marie Clements (Métis); produces First Nations and multicultural theater and film.


ACTIVE NATIVE PLAYWRIGHTS

Diane Glancy
A creative writing/Native American studies professor at Minnesota’s Macalester College, Diane Glancy’s (Cherokee) many writing awards include several for playwriting: three stints as Playwright Laureate for the Five Civilized Tribes, an Oklahoma Theater Association award, and several playwriting fellowships with established theaters and organizations. Her third volume of plays, The Sum of Winter, is due out soon. (The previous volumes are War Cries and American Gypsy.)

In October, Glancy’s new play Salvage will be produced at Native Voices at the Autry, following a successful staged reading at New York’s Public Theater. NVA also has produced Glancy’s Jump Kiss and Stone Heart: Everybody Loves a Journey West.

Glancy’s writing crosses genres, with novels, short stories and poetry, as well as drama. Her play Stone Heart: Everybody Loves a Journey West grew from her 2003 novel about Sacajawea, titled Stone Heart. “For me,” Glancy observes, “plays come from visualization. I just kept seeing them (the Lewis & Clark expedition) on the river in my imagination. The rhythm of the journey stayed with me. I had driven along the Missouri and Columbia rivers for research. There was something about the imagined rowing in conjunction with the striped lines down the highway that longed for actually voice, which a play is.”

Drew Hayden Taylor
Drew Hayden Taylor’s twentieth book just hit bookstores. He describes it as “exploring and deconstructing the world of Native sexuality,” and its title (Me Sexy) carries the wry, sardonic tone that has become his trademark—along with zany one-liners that send audiences into gales of laughter.

An Ojibwe from the Curve Lake First Nation in Ontario, Taylor is one of Canada’s most recognized writers and one of its most-produced playwrights. His career began quietly enough, writing plays for De-ba-jeh-mu-jig Theatre Group in the late 1980s. But Taylor could hardly be classified as quiet. His résumé now includes more than 70 productions and an impressive handful of prestigious Canadian awards for playwriting: a Dora Mavor Moore Award (Toronto’s equivalent of the Tony) for Best New Play for Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth and a Governor General’s Literary Award (a Canadian Award similar to the Pulitzer) for one of his most recent plays, In a World Created by a Drunken God.

About why he writes for the theater, Taylor says, “It’s certainly not the money. It’s like a first love. It’s painful, annoying, costly, makes you vulnerable, but there’s no art like it. There is nothing between you and the audience.”

Bruce King
Bruce King (Oneida) published his first play in 1969, and in 2006 his five-play volume Evening at the Warbonnet and Other Plays was published. In the intervening years, King’s career has included acting, directing, teaching and producing (theater and film). His plays have been performed across the U.S. and Canada, and he has emerged as one of the most respected theater artists in Native America.

King’s early experiences with productions of his plays in non-Native venues were, like many Native artists’, not wholly positive, finding that non-Native directors and producers skewed the plots and characters of his plays. As a result, King founded his own company in 1981, Indian Time Theatre, to produce Native work. In recent years, the Thunderbird Theatre at Haskell has benefited from King’s talents as playwright, actor and mentor; the company premiered several of King’s works, including Threads: Ethel Nickel’s Little Acre, an insightful, human examination of the effects of land conflicts.

King also collaborates with Native communities, encouraging participants to create plays from community stories. In a 1993 interview with Native Playwrights’ Newsletter editor Paul Rathbun, King described the process. “They invest something that they have to say that affects them all, and that they agree on. Then it starts working.”

Bill Yellow Robe, Jr.
During the 2005–06 theater season, William S. Yellow Robe, Jr. (Assiniboine) attracted national attention when his play Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers received a joint production by two leading regional theaters. The Penumbra Theatre Company of Minneapolis, an African-American theater, and the Trinity Repertory Company of Providence staged productions of the play and sponsored a national tour. Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers follows the homecoming of Craig Robe, the grandson of a Buffalo Soldier and a Native American woman, to his reservation.

Oskar Eustis, director of New York City’s Public Theater and former artistic director of Trinity Rep, said in an interview regarding Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers, “I think William is really one of the great American playwrights—he has an extraordinary body of work created over the past 20 years.” His plays are characteristically complex and sensitive, crafting human, truthful characters sorting their way through troubled, sometimes dysfunctional circumstances, always with an eye toward resolution and hope.

Yellow Robe has written more than 40 plays, five of which are collected in Where the Pavement Ends. A teacher of playwriting and theater, he has mentored students at several institutions throughout the U.S., including the University of New Mexico, where he founded the Wakiknabe Theatre Company, and the Institute of American Indian Arts.

Marie Clements
Actor, playwright and director Marie Clements (Métis) has become an artistic leader in Canada, writing nearly a dozen plays which have garnered an impressive list of nominations and awards and have been staged by some of Canada’s most important companies. Working across a range of media—including television, radio and multimedia—Clements has also adapted several of her plays as films.

The founding artistic director of urban ink productions in Vancouver, Clements was a finalist for the 2003 Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama for Burning Vision, which received the Canada-Japan Literary Award that year. Burning Vision examines the complicated history of Canada’s nuclear program, through insightful portraits of Hiroshima bomb survivors and Dene people who mined the ore. In typical Clements fashion, the play is alternatively pointed and poignant, painting beautiful and sometimes horrifying images of a disintegrating humanity not yet beyond hope.

In 2007, Clements’ play exploring Anishinaabe artist Norval Morrisseau’s life, Copper Thunderbird, became the first Native-authored play staged by Canada’s National Arts Centre, where she was also playwright-in-residence. Having recently resigned from urban ink productions, Clements is rarely without multiple projects in development, including a film-production company, Frog.

Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl
Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl (Samoan/Hawaiian/Caucasian) has published one volume of plays, Hawai‘i Nei, and has had plays performed in Hawaii and throughout the U.S., the Pacific, Asia and the U.K., bringing stories and cultural questions about Hawaii’s first peoples to an international audience.

Many of Kneubuhl’s plays were commissioned by Honolulu’s Kumu Kahua (“Original Stage”) Theatre, examining a range of stories and issues, from repatriation of Native Hawaiian remains to domestic violence, and developing Kneubuhl a reputation for portraits of strong Native Hawaiian women. Kneubuhl’s next projects include a play on cross-cultural relations set in a bed-and-breakfast in American Samoa, a mystery novel set in 1935 Hawaii with Polynesian detectives, and a documentary about Hawaii statesman Joseph Nawahi.

Named an Extraordinary Woman of Hawaii and recipient of the Hawaii Award for Literature, Kneubuhl came to theater inadvertently, taking a playwriting class while working on a master’s degree in psychology. Kneubuhl observes, “I found the stage a fascinating and energizing arena. It is so much like ancient communal ritual. We come together as a group to sit in the dark and listen to an unfolding story. There is a very human immediacy to the theater experience that I find irresistible.”

Other Notable Playwrights
Floyd Favel Starr (Cree)—An actor, director and playwright, he devotes considerable attention to the development of an Indigenous performance aesthetic.
Tomson Highway (Cree)—The first Native playwright to gain national success in Canada, now primarily a novelist. Co-founder of the Committee to Re-establish the Trickster, which led to the founding of Native Earth Performing Arts.

Monique Mojica (Kuna/Rappahannock)—Toronto-based playwright/actor who was a founding member of Turtle Gals.

Daniel David Moses (Delaware)—Prolific Canadian poet/playwright; co-founder of the Committee to Re-establish the Trickster, which led to the founding of Native Earth Performing Arts.

Yvette Nolan—Playwright and artistic director of NEPA; adapting (with Kennedy MacKinnon) Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar for NEPA’s 25th anniversary season, titling it Death of a Chief.

Judy Lee Oliva (Chickasaw)—Her work Te Ata recently had a lavish production in Oklahoma funded in part by the Chickasaw Nation.

Marcie Rendon (Anishinaabe)—Her works include plays commissioned by Minneapolis’s Child’s Play Theatre and the popular FREE Frybread Telethon.

Rhiana Yazzie (Navajo)—Recently completed a residency at the Minneapolis Playwrights’ Center and had various works broadcast by the Native Radio Theatre Project.

Ann Haugo is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Illinois State University. Her publications on Native theater have appeared in several books and academic journals, and she serves on the Advisory Board for Project HOOP.