Native Voices on the Web

Image from www.cee-mail.com

In this booming age of digital technology when the answer to anything and everything is at your fingertips, it can become a bit daunting to know where the definitive answer lies. Nowadays, companies have multiple websites for multiple purposes and, when one only needs a single answer, searching through all those sites can be a bit frustrating. Since Native Voices is one of those many companies, I thought it'd be a good idea to break down our web presence for you in an attempt to reduce our digital divide.

Blog

Obviously, we have a blog, as most companies do. Ours is managed by myself, Carlenne Lacosta, Native Voices Director of New Play Development and Production. Since I am not part of a marketing team or specifically assigned to productions, my blog posts will have a different perspective from those  that are managed by marketing personnel and the like. As I've mentioned in the past, my goal for this blog is to expose our processes and to become a forum for what artists and audience members want to see and/ or read about. If you have a question, please feel free to post it. If you have a suggestion, please send it in. If you're uncomfortable with publicly posting on the blog itself, you can always make your posts anonymous or you can email me directly. On this site, you'll find our newly titled section "Links and Resources," which is a listing of opportunities you may find of interest, as well as an "About Us" page which is pretty self-explanatory. When we have events you can purchase tickets to (such as our Equity productions), our home page will include a section dedicated to our Box Office. But generally, this blog is used to explore topics related to new play development.

Facebook

Whereas our blog features weekly posts, our Facebook page, which is managed by Native Voices Production Coordinator Caroline Chang, contains almost daily updates. If you mosey on over there right now, you'll see that we are seeking an Equity Stage Manager for our upcoming production of The Frybread Queen and if you scroll down a bit you'll see that The Public Theater is hosting an in-house workshop of Joy Harjo's Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light this weekend. Check out our Events page to see what our upcoming shows are and flip through our photos to see what you've missed if you've been unable to join us in Los Angeles. Of course, you can also find our contact information on there as well as copies of our blog entries for those unable to access this page through traditional means. Facebook contains the most up-to-date information on Native Voices and it's monitored pretty closely so I would bookmark this page as the best way to gain our most current information.

Twitter
Our Twitter account is managed by our long-time friend and frequent Production Assistant Jennifer Bobiwash (or @bobiwash). At this moment, you can view a link to an article about Thanksgiving meals that were delivered to residents of the Pine Ridge, Rosebud, Crow Creek, Lower Brule, Cheyenne River, and Standing Rock reservations; or a link to a blog post about human remains that were found at Oxford Alabama Stone Mound. On Fridays, you'll see Native Voices staff members posting their #viewatthemoment; since we all work from different areas, we thought it'd be interesting to see what our different work spaces look like. In September, Native Voices Executive Director Jean Bruce Scott shared her views of Missoula, Montana, her work space during the co-production of Frybread Queen and we can be sure to see views of snowy New York as both Jean and Native Voices Artistic Director Randy Reinholz will be there this weekend for the aforementioned Wings workshop. Twitter is a place where we can actively engage with our followers and disseminate information related to Native issues with a touch of a button.

Myspace
Yes, we still have a Myspace account and it is chock-full of useful information. Not only will you see a listing of all the plays we've developed and produced since being in residence at the Autry, but you can view Visible Film Production's mini-documentary on our Young Native Voices project, "Our Voices, Our Stories" and peruse through a ton of pictures from our numerous events. Although our Myspace page isn't maintained as regularly as our other social networks, it undoubtedly contains the most comprehensive history of the company. Those interested in the company's past should definitely make this site one of their first stops.

Website
Last, but certainly not least, is our Autry website. As implied by the image to the left, we are currently in the process of revamping our site - adding more pages, providing more content, etc - in order to make it your one-stop source for everything Native Voices. Because this overhaul is such an important project, it's hard to tell when "construction" will be complete but you can be sure that you, our blog readers, will be among the first to know. For now, you can visit the site to gain a brief history of the company as well as obtain ample descriptions of our different events.

And that's your cheat sheet to finding Native Voices on the web. If there's anything I've missed, something you'd like to know more about, please feel free to let me know. Social media is nothing without the interaction of our audience members so your views and opinions are not only welcome but essential.

Till next week!

From Frybread to Tombs

First, an acknowledgement to last week's Frybread team for the incredible amount of work they were able to accomplish in such a short amount of time. Everyone arrived with the shared goal of strengthening the script's story line and providing playwright Carolyn Dunn with the support and encouragement she needed in order to achieve that goal. Carolyn reached a major breakthrough with the script this past week and we have Jere Hodgin, Rob Caisley, our very own Jean Bruce Scott, our amazing actors, and our lovely audience members to thank for that. I can't wait for you all to see Frybread Queen in her full regalia come March!

On a completely separate note, next week on November 16th at 7:30p, we, along with San Diego State University's Intercultural Center, American Indian Studies, and the School of Theatre, Television, and Film will be presenting a staged reading of Marie Clements' Tombs of the Vanishing Indian at SDSU's Experimental Theatre in celebration of American Indian Heritage Month. The cast includes Brian Bielawski, Jacob Bruce, Carla-Rae, Tonantzin Carmelo, David Ellenstein, Elizabeth Frances, and DeLanna Studi with Randy Reinholz directing. Please feel free to join us if you're in the area; the event is free and open to the public. Check back next week for info regarding the translation process for Tombs with testimonials from Virginia Carmelo of the Tongva/ Gabrielino Nation; Jennifer Bobiwash, our Assistant Director from this summer's Playwrights Retreat; and Carla-Rae, who will be reprising her role as The Lone Woman at this November's reading.

Insights from our Producing Artistic Director

Remember back in July when I said we like to spend the end of our summers evaluating our year and dreaming up of what the next season will bring us? One of the exercises Executive Director Jean Bruce Scott gave us to get that conversation rolling was a writing assignment about what Native Voices' message should be. Needless to say, that's a pretty big assignment and, of course, it's an on-going discussion we have throughout the year. But, putting pen to paper is no easy task and we each procrastinated on our responses (sorry Jeannie!). But, I'm happy to say, eventually we were all able to cross "NV message" off our lists of "Things to Do" and have become a stronger team because of it (thanks Jeannie!). Today, I'd like to share what Artistic Director Randy Reinholz wrote for this assignment which I think perfectly synthesizes who we are as a company and is a great way to begin our 11th season at The Autry National Center:

Native Voices is a Native theater company with a national & international profile. We are a combination of community-centered artists practicing an art form with national significance. While other small arts organizations might call themselves community-centered, describing a geographical center; Native Voices’ community center is an intersection of ethnic identity, issues of National sovereignty for Native people, combining the self-representation of Native people in art, literature and history. 

Native Voices provides a forum for Native playwrights to have access to the top talent in the US theatre in the development process for their scripts to tell Native stories from a Native perspective, showcasing exceptional Native and non-native theatre artists. It is a political act to put living contemporary Native people on stage to combat the once common perception in the US that Native people are vanishing or extinct. Theatre is the perfect art form to demonstrate that Native people are vital, contemporary, and that we have a complex unique story to tell.

Since 1994, we have been a text-based theatre company meaning that our work begins on the page. To assist the playwright, past development processes have included dramaturgical work; access to cultural advisors; stage readings; workshop stagings of scripts; improvisational rehearsals based on a written text; the addition of traditional and non- traditional music and dance added to text through improvisation and at other times based solely on the written text to expand the reach and depth of the story. All of these development processes are to support the playwright’s vision. 

To date we have produced 14 professional theatre productions; the 15th show opening September 17, 2010 at Montana Rep. We always work at UNION standards of professionalism and compensation in an effort to place value on the work. We have produced a number of radio plays and given development workshop opportunities to over 80 scripts with playwrights from more than 25 different Native nations. 

It is our goal that a Native Voices’ production be another step in the development process so that playwrights can experience an audience watching the show and continue the re-writing process. We hope to see subsequent productions and publication of scripts developed or produced at Native Voices. 

As multiculturalism is no longer a fad in US art but a standard of inclusion and excellence for any performing arts organization that wants to be seen as credible, Native Voices has also taken on the role of matchmaker. We accept the responsibility of matching professional Native artists with culturally specific needs and opportunities to the greater professional theatre and entertainment industries. To that end, writers, performers and other collaborative theatre artists that have worked with Native Voices over the past 16 years are working more consistently in professional theatre and entertainment industries.

In summary we: develop plays, develop Native playwrights, develop collaborative theatre artists through on-going professional opportunities to hone the craft on stage and during artists’ workshops, develop and expand the cannon of Native American plays with more than 80 plays workshopped, provide a service to the greater professional theatre and entertainment industries by identifying possible collaborating artists for meritorious opportunities in the profession, and provide a nexus of information for professional Native theater artists and the contemporary issues that concern them