Cikiuteklluku

Artwork and poem by Susan Scharpf, Design Consultant

Our second Retreat and Festival play by a Native Alaskan is Cikiuteklluku: Giving Something Away. Written by Holly Christine Stanton, Cikiuteklluku is about a young Yup’ik girl from rural Alaska who faces heartache when a non-Native couple adopts her baby. Holly's creative team includes director Ed Bourgeois and dramaturg Shelley Orr.

Holly Stanton, Playwright

Holly Stanton (Yupik Athabascan) is from Bethel, Alaska where she has been a Registered Nurse since 2004. After some reflection and consideration for her family, she made a career move to work as a Nurse II for the Bethel Public Health Center and is excited to be branching out into a new facet of nursing. Although this is her first foray into playwriting, she has always had an artistic flair and contributes occasionally to the local paper in Bethel. She is married to Michael Stanton and together they have four children, three stepchildren, and one grandchild. She considers her family her greatest accomplishment in life and is proud that all her children appear to be artistically inclined to both drawing and writing.

Ed Bourgeois, Director

Ed Bourgeois (Mohawk) applies his background as a professional actor, director, and producer to the development of Native Theater at the Alaska Native Heritage Center (ANHC). As General Director of Anchorage Opera (1996-2007) he was responsible for all operational and artistic functions of a $1M non-profit arts organization, directed mainstage productions and developed the Studio Theatre young artist program. As ANHC’s Director of Public Programs he has co-written and/or directed productions of Panik’s Revenge, Growing Up Native in Alaska, Raven’s Radio Hour, The Three Enemies, and Echoes, which was performed at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. His production of Jack Dalton’s Assimilation was lauded by the Anchorage Daily News as “Best Play of 2010”. He is project director of the Alaska Native Playwrights Project, which in its first year saw the creation of nine new plays by indigenous writers.

Shelley Orr, Dramaturg

Shelley Orr teaches theatre history and dramaturgy in the graduate and undergraduate programs in the School of Theatre, Television, and Film at San Diego State University. Her publications have appeared in Theatre Journal, TheatreForum, and Theatre Topics. She co-edited a collection of essays entitled Performance and the City (Palgrave 2009). Her professional theatre credits include serving as a dramaturg for New York’s Classic Stage Company, La Jolla Playhouse, and the PlayLabs New Play Festival at The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis. Most recently, she dramaturged the new play A Weekend With Pablo Picasso at the San Diego Repertory and 9 Parts of Desire at Mo`olelo Theatre. She holds an MFA in Dramaturgy from University of California, San Diego, and a PhD in Theatre Studies from the UCI/UCSD joint doctoral program. She is past president of the international professional association Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA).

Cikiuteklluku: Giving Something Away will be presented at La Jolla Playhouse on Thursday, June 2 and at the Autry National Center on Thursday, June 16 at 7:30p. For tickets, please click here.

August: Osage County + The Frybread Queen

Shyla Marlin, Elizabeth Frances, Kimberly Guerrero, Jane Lind

Guest post by Kimberly Norris Guerrero

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The Indian Out of the Attic
Comparing August: Osage County and The Frybread Queen

For over 800 performances, I was blessed to be able to walk in the flipflops of one of the most enigmatic characters in modern American theatre. A Cheyenne from Oklahoma, Johnna Monevata cooked, cleaned and cared for the Weston family in Tracy Lett’s Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning play August: Osage County. Johnna kept her mouth shut, her head down, didn’t judge, didn’t comment, intervened only when necessary and no matter how bleak it got in the Weston house, never skipped a beat. How? She’d seen much worse.

Those who have read or seen August and want to know Johnna’s side of the story can garner valuable insight into Native American reality by watching Carolyn Dunn’s new play, The Frybread Queen which celebrated its world premiere produced by Native Voices at The Autry Museum in Los Angeles on March 12th. The similarities between the two plays are almost eerie, especially when you realize that Dunn and Letts were writing the pieces at the same time lending credence to the existence of a collective creative consciousness.

Like August: Osage County, The Frybread Queen is a female driven story deftly blending comedy and tragedy where the characters are tied by blood and marriage, represent three generations and have swept painful truths under the carpet—or for the sake of this discussion the Navajo rug—for so many years that it has risen to the height of K2. Also like the Westons, the family of the The Frybread Queen gathers at the old homestead set in rural America, this time the Navajo rez in lieu of “the plains”, to mourn the suicide of a beloved male family member who both plays refer to as “complicated”.

My character in The Frybread Queen, Annalee, a Muscogee Creek originally from Tulsa (where Johnna attended nursing school), is on a mission to scale and conquer the mountain of lies in order to save her teenaged stepdaughter from her ex-mother-in-law’s haunted house much as Johnna saved the teenager from the evil lurking in the Weston house. As Johnna, I nursed a character dying from cancer, as Annalee I am the one dying from lung cancer, the disease which sadly took our original Beverly Weston, the playwright’s father, Dennis Letts one month after we opened on Broadway.

Perhaps the most poignant similarity is that in both plays, I am left alone on stage at the end of the story with the matriarch. The two elders, metaphorical representatives of their respective cultures are forced to choose between perpetuating or breaking the cycle of abuse, addiction and unforgiveness that has spiritually poisoned both of their families for generations. They make very different choices but the T.S. Elliot poem Johnna chants at the end of August: Osage County rings true for both: "this is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends"...one with a despairing whimper, the other with a glorious bang.

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The Frybread Queen closes at The Autry this Sunday, March 27. For tickets or more information, please click here.

More Than One Way to Make Frybread

Director Robert Caisley and The Frybread Queens (Kimberly Guerrero, Shyla Marlin, Elizabeth Frances, and Jane Lind)

A note from Robert Caisley, the director of Frybread Queen, regarding the recipes that are featured in the show.

Each of the very strong, opinionated, passionate women in the play has their own unique take on how to make frybread. The monologues, in which they relate their recipes to the audience, function in several ways. They are an attempt by each character to assert some kind of “authority” over the past, and to take some kind of control over the future. These women are competing, both literally and metaphorically, to be the real frybread queen in the play. 

The monologues take place outside the time and space of the rest of the play. They violate the unity of the narrative, and as such, they are jolting (in a good way) to the senses. They are moments in which the dramatic tension of the play is momentarily suspended so we can offer some respite, some editorial comment, perhaps some time for the audience to reflect. They are meta-theatrical. They unselfconsciously break the 4th wall that the rest of the play adheres to. They offer commentary on the preceding act and cast some shadow over the action which is about to unfold in the following act. They give us a glimpse into the interior life of the characters as they exist outside the central conflict of the play – perhaps a moment in time that represents a “better” time in the lives of these women? 

Jessie, for example, takes great pride in relating her recipe. Perhaps the domestic chores like cooking frybread have been a distraction from the turbulence of her home life with a physically and emotionally abusive husband and an alcoholic son. The familiar recipe as refuge. Her blue ribbon was perhaps the only “merit badge” she had received that told her she was doing a good job as a mother, and so she clings to this victory fiercely. Pride in her recipe, is pride in her ability to survive in the face of extreme adversity. She has tried so hard to keep some semblance of a family together and frybread is part of the tie that binds. The other women’s recipes are alternately ironic, cynical, and comic. 

I like to think of the monologues as “unguarded moments” for each of the women in the play. They are not being observed like they are in the rest of the play. We are able to see a side of them we don’t see at other times in the play.  

Frybread is both a comfort food (practically speaking) and a cancer (culturally speaking - according to Lily’s monologue.) Monologues are moments in which a character is able to speak w/o judgment. In a family in which everyone’s past behavior and current motives are being constantly scrutinized by every other character on stage, these monologues give us rare glimpses of these women not under pressure. The frybread recipes provide us with moments of seeming impartiality. However, the playwright has been careful in how she has constructed the recipes … because we slowly learn as the play goes on that these recipes are anything but impartial, and reflect the essential agenda of each of the women. It’s not just a simple recipe with slight variations; the monologues are just as opinionated as the women are in the rest of the play. They are asserting their moral, ethical and emotional rights in these monologues. It is their appeal to the audience to “root for me.” “I’m right.” “I’m the frybread queen.” 

In a play that is substantially about the specter of past, and the destructive power of blame and denial, these recipe monologues are a refreshing affirmation of the curative effects of love, home, motherhood, cooking, and the tremendous emotional strength of each of the women in this play.

For more information about The Frybread Queen, please visit our website.

Introducing our Frybread Queens

We are proud to announce our cast for our upcoming production of Carolyn Dunn's The Frybread Queen. Check back here often for more information about our entire team and be sure to save the date for Frybread's opening: Saturday, March 12, 2011!

Jane Lind (Aleut) will portray Jessie Burns

Jane is an actress, director, choreographer, and playwright who began her professional career at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico and continued her training at New York University and Paris, France. A co-founder of the Native American Theater Ensemble, she has performed in various productions by Peter Brooks, Hanay Geiogamah, Andrei Serban, John Vacarro, and Ellen Stewart. She was the female lead and choreographer for Donovan Marley's production of Black Elk Speaks for which she received the prestigious awards of Best Choreographer from the Denver Drama Critics Circle and Best Actress from First Americans in the Arts. Her film and television credits include Percy Adlon's Salmonberries, the mini-series Return to Lonesome Dove, and the TNT production of Crazy Horse. She also performed in Alaska's Perseverence Theater's productions of The Vagina Monologues and Raven's Odyssey; the Cherokee Historical Society's Unto These Hills; the Theater of Yugen's production of Crazy Horse - Moon of the Scarlet Plums; and Native Voices/ Montana Rep's production of The Frybread Queen last fall.

Shyla Marlin (Choctaw) will portray Carlisle Emmanuel Burns

Shyla couldn’t be more excited to work with Native Voices at the Autry for the first time. Theatre credits include Last Days of Judas Iscariot, UTM/Company of Angels; I Stand Before You Naked, Complex; On The Brink, 68 Cent Theatre; The Elephant and The Mayfly, Berkshire Theatre Festival; The Frontier, USC/DRC; Alphabet Play, USC/DRC; Birdbath, Annex Theatre. Film and TV credits include Whatever It Takes (Sony); Lies and Alibis (Warner Bros.); Woo (New Line); Fashion House (MY TV); Saint and Sinners (MY TV); Minding the Store (TBS); Grace (32/12 Films); Spiritual Warriors (Gilgamesh Prods.); A Starbuck’s Story (Anatomy Entertainment). Writing and producing credits include Still Standing (Theatre Asylum); A Starbuck’s Story (“Best Short” FAIF Film Festival). A graduate of the University of Southern California, she studied theatre and French.

Kimberly Norris Guerrero (Colville, Salish-Kootenai, Cherokee) will portray Annalee Walker Hayne 

Kimberly is a native Oklahoman and graduate of UCLA who has appeared on stage in Steel Magnolias, Canticle of the Plains, Three Sisters, and, most recently, in Steppenwolf's Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning play August: Osage County which she performed in Chicago, on Broadway, at The National Theatre in London and The Sydney Theatre Company in Australia. Her film/ TV credits include Grey’s Anatomy, Taking Chances, The Sopranos, Naturally Native, Hidalgo, and Seinfeld to name a few. Additionally, she works with youth in tribal communities across North America utilizing creative expression as a tool promoting personal development. Her performance in The Frybread Queen is inspired by and dedicated to Kay Norris and Dennis Letts.

Elizabeth Frances (Cherokee) will portray Lily Savannah Santiago Burns

Elizabeth is truly excited and honored to be working with such a wonderful cast and crew on this tremendous play. Recent projects include The Lunacy Commission (Kirk Douglas Theater), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare Santa Cruz), Julius Caesar (Shakespeare Santa Cruz), Detained in the Desert (Casa 0101), Tombs of the Vanishing Indians (reading with Native Voices at the Autry), Hamlet (Dir. Lenka Udovicki), Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands (Dir. O-Lan Jones), Soltonoff/ Findlay Project (Center Theater Group), among others. She holds a BFA from Calarts.

Who Says There’s No Theatre in LA?

A guest post by Native Voices Production Coordinator Caroline Chang

There was the looming chance of rain Monday night , but luckily the skies cleared up over the Autry National Center as members of the LA theatre community dropped in for the LA Stage Alliance Ovation Nominees Announcements.

For those of you who don’t know, the LA Stage Alliance is an organization which brings together and builds awareness and support for performing arts organizations in Los Angeles. They host the annual Ovation Awards which is the “only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles, created to recognize excellence in theatrical performance, production and design in the Greater Los Angeles area”. And Native Voices had the honor of being asked to host this year’s Ovation Nominee Announcements!

It was a great night with old theatre friends, and new ones. As well as a great reception by Cheers Catering before the event. The energy was calm but electrifying – ah, so that’s where the thunder and lightning went! Yes, a clear night sky, conversations about theatre, and bruschetta and cracked pepper hummus. What could be better?

The announcements opened with a presentation by Native Voices. David Burton, Managing Director, kicked it off with thanks from and info about The Autry and our new exciting exhibitions up and coming (come see Siqueiros, its fabulous!). Then next stepped up Tonantzin Carmelo and Kalani Queypo, who both effervescently introduced Native Voices to the audience of theatre professionals. What a great opportunity and such apt folks to do the job!

The next day, David remarked to me that “Native Voices at the Autry was delighted and proud to be the host venue for this year’s ovation nominee announcements. This event was a wonderful reminder of the great talent and diversity reflected in the Los Angeles theatre community. We are happy that NV has long contributed to that diversity and grateful that we had the opportunity to share our accomplishments and future goals with our LA theatre family. Many of the new friendships forged last night could lead to some interesting or surprising collaborations in the future. Wouldn’t that be cool?" I think so! Oh, the possibilities!

The rest of the evening went smoothly as winners from last year’s Ovation Awards announced the nominees. It was exciting to be surrounded by that much talent! And congrats to the nominees! Man, it was terrific year in theatre, don’t you agree?

Special thanks to Terrence McFarland, Doug Clayton, Neal Spinler, Phloe Pontaoe and to everyone at the LA Stage Alliance for putting together a fabulous evening! This year’s Ovation Awards Ceremony will be hosted by the Cabrillo Music Center and the Thousand Oaks Performing Arts Plaza on January 17th, 2011.

And a final thought from Caroline:
Theatre in LA is scattered, in pockets of the city here and there with no veritable “Broadway” (as much as those have tried to make it happen). Like much of the cultural activity in LA, you won’t know it until you stumble upon, it hits you in the face, and you take a chance, but it will dazzle you and find a way to connect with you, and you’ll come back wanting more (trust me).

And the performing arts community is big and small at the same time, much like the city itself. Its full of the experimental, contemporary, traditional, avant-garde, classics, remakes, stars and up and comers, the good, the bad, and the ugly (and the beautiful, its LA of course!).

It’s all over the map. Somebody is always doing theatre in LA.

And that’s how we like it.

A Playwright's Inspiration

The Hotel Eden by Joseph Cornell

From the moment I met playwright Diane Glancy, I have been fascinated by what inspires her to write. From old photographs, to a heart-shaped rock, to a car ride down Highway 2, the stories behind her plays are just as interesting as the plays themselves. Next week, we will begin workshopping our fourth play by Diane, The Bird House, which features a role written specifically for Artistic Director Randy Reinholz. 

So, we put our frybread-filled thoughts on pause for a week or two and turn our attention towards Ropesville, Texas where the heat consumes you, the poverty overwhelms you, and hopelessness is a way of life. It's a grim play but, at the heart of it, is the sense that we will be able to overcome anything that's thrown our way.

Below, in her own words, is what inspired Diane to write the play that will kick off our 2010 First Look Series and it's my hope that these words will inspire you to join us as we begin our journey into The Bird House.

My work usually comes in the process of travel. I was on my way from Kansas to San Diego in 2008. I stopped at my son’s in Texas. The landscape description comes from his place— the ground dried and cracked, the alkali traces, the short, brittle weeds. There’s always baggage to the land. If I stand in a place long enough, situations occur to me.

At the end of the play, I have the following:   

Gratefulness to Native Voices at the Autry for the Naomi Iizuka workshop during the LMDA Conference from which the idea of two women living in a church came.

The idea for the eventual use of videography in the play came from the video work in Craig Wolf’s The Merry Chase, which I saw at the LMDA Conference in 2008. In fact, it was the genesis of the play along with a conversation with Randy Reinholz.

The title came from the actual bird houses on Jean and Randy’s back patio. It was where Randy and I talked one morning about aging, stroke, and puzzlements of the Christian faith— issues probably no one wants to look at.

At the moment, I’m interested in miniaturist theater, an invented term that means a play constricted in a small space. Nailed down. Distilled. For what purpose? Artistic exploration? The downturn of our economy? The way the term, cutback, continually is in the news? The way aging seems to hedge one’s life? (I can’t do what I used to).

I don’t mean miniaturist theater in terms of a short play. The Bird House is a regular one-act. But a miniaturistic play. Though not stated directly, its undercurrent is Native American heritage, a minority culture small in number in relationship to others. It also often is confined to a reservation.

For this play, I’ve been influence by Joseph Cornell, an American assemblage artist of small boxes with a proximity to Surrealism. He’s the author of contained worlds. I want to make a contained world of words.

I want large moments contained in smallness— I want to get as close as possible to the claustrophobic while maintaining a play with very large issues— abandonment, poverty, stroke, death.

I want a rowdy play. A small, quiet, rowdy play with huge, noisy, oversized issues.

I want it to seem the actors hardly can move. I want them hemmed with the smallest stitches by the sharpest needle.

Pierre Reverdy defined surrealism as “a juxtaposition of two more or less distant realities.” In this play, I want the distant realities to be not two but three characters who have enormous distances, yet live together on one small stage.

I want to see their restricted movements. (Even if this play grows with development, I hope it remains a minimalist piece on some level, meaning movement and action take place within a small space that is no space, to maintain the undercurrent of restriction in which the limitation and compression spark a dramatic friction).

I want it to seem like dialogue contained in small boxes of metaphor, with the largest issues held in the tiniest containments— as if the characters were tied together with very short ropes. I want to see the word, diminishment, as a lovely horizon.

In the end, as I travel, I try to catch the flocks of words that lift from passing fields.

The Bird House will be presented at the Autry National Center on Thursday, October 7 at 7p. It will be directed by Stephan Wolfert and feature dramaturgy by Bryan Davidson with a cast that includes Carla-Rae, Ellen Dostal, and Randy Reinholz. For more information, please click here.

On the Road with our Executive Director

As you know, our beloved Frybread Queen began her reign at Montana Rep last weekend and, of course, our Artistic Director, Executive Director, and Managing Director (Randy, Jeannie, and David) all made the trip to Missoula to witness her debut. Caroline, Jenn, and I didn't want to be left out so we insisted that Jeannie send us a few pictures from the road (to the left you'll see one of the yummy lunches she made us drool over) and give us something we can share with all of you. Her entry is below. Enjoy the read!

What an opening!

First of all, Carolyn has written an extraordinary play – a love story, a ghost story, a story full of surprise twists and turns that kept the audience on the edge of their seats. The characters are deep, their relationships complex, and the secrets they keep – dark and powerful!

We’ve had such a wonderful time working with Carolyn over the past three years as she’s shaped and crafted her story (originally a novel) into this play. We’ve had numerous workshops and staged readings with exceptionally talented actresses, directors and dramaturges providing Carolyn with the opportunity to hear her words in workshops and with an audience. Getting the play up on its feet was the next step in our development process so we asked Carolyn to continue her work revising her play with Jere Hodgin as director and Robert Caisley as dramaturg. 

One of the main things we wanted to explore was the presence of the dearly departed son, father, husband and lover – Paul – who we never see on stage, but who is there from the beginning. All four of the women feel him, see him or are possessed by him. This developmental co-production would give us the opportunity to fine tune the script and, for the set, lighting, and sound designers, to create those things that would make Paul real not only for the actresses but for the audience as well.

Jere cast the play with four superb actresses. Jane Lind gave a tour de force performance as Jessie, the tough Navajo grandmother who's left to pick up the pieces of her life while trying to protect her granddaughter Lily who was played with rebellious glee by Tiffany Miewald. Lily Gladstone as Carlisle, the good Cherokee auntie with the sweet façade, tries to console the devastated Lily and keep the peace while Arigon Starr as Annalee, the stepmom and outsider, clashes with Jessie over who’s to blame for Paul’s sorrows. Possessed by her own demons and regrets, Annalee, an Oklahoma Creek lawyer who is dying of lung cancer, desperately clings to life and her claim on Lily, determined to rid the family of its ghosts. Each of the performers was pitch perfect. Their interactions with each other were honest and truthful and their reactions to Paul’s presence made him all the more real to the audience.

Scenic designer Johanna Josephian gave us a realistic set complete with a creaky screen door, a comfy old rocker, a wobbly picnic table and an old fashioned two-seater glider that moved on its own whenever Paul wanted to make his presence felt. She was aided by lighting designer Mark Dean and sound designer Jayson L. Ferguson who continued to up the ante each time Paul was “on stage” with swirling lights, a flicker, an ominous glow and the sounds of breath, wind, thunder, a slamming screen door or subtle music. It all worked and it all made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Judging by the way the audience leaned forward in their seats whenever they felt Paul’s presence - Paul was definitely in the theater and on that stage!

I’d like to thank everyone involved with this production from its earliest readings to this wonderful production. I’d also like to congratulate Montana Rep and the University of Montana for their commitment to Native theater and the Native voice. We are proud to have had the encouragement and support of UM President George M. Dennison, Provost Royce C. Engstrom, Dean Stephen Kalm, and The College of Visual and Performing Arts.  

We are especially thankful to The School of Theatre & Dance and its Director Mark Dean, and to Montana Rep and its Artistic Director Greg Johnson. We’ve had such a wonderful time collaborating with them this year and they did such a great job getting the word out and getting a Native American audience in to see the show – many of whom attended the invited preview performance and after party at the beautiful Payne Family Native American Center on campus. They had lots of help from the American Indian Student Services and its Director Fredrika Hunter, and The Department of Native American Studies. We were thrilled when a Native student commented during the talk back that this was the first play she’d ever been to and that she came because of the storyline and the chance to see four Native women on stage!  

We look forward to the next steps on our way to the world premiere of The Frybread Queen next March at The Autry. Join us on our journey when we do our final workshop and readings of The Frybread Queen on November 4th and 7th during the American Indian Arts Marketplace at the Autry. Carolyn, Jere and Rob will work with a local cast to iron out the last few issues with the text. Check out the Autry Calendar for more information on our November readings and email NativeVoices@theautry.org to make your reservations today.

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

So many opportunities, so little time

First off, apologies for being a day late on this post! Seems like I'm a bit behind the times but I'm here now and that's what's important, right? ;-D Since our last post, a few opportunities have come across my desk that I've been wanting to share with you.

Native Voices 2011 Call for Scripts
Please click on the link above for info regarding our 2011 developmental opportunities and our current submission guidelines and process. Although we accept scripts year round, all work received by September 15, 2010 will be considered for our 2011 Playwrights Retreat and Festival of New Plays as well as our 2011 First Look Series. All work submitted after September 15th will be considered for our 2012 developmental opportunities. We accept completed full-length plays by Native American and First Nation playwrights. If you have any questions or concerns regarding our Call for Scripts, please feel free to email me directly.

The Loop
If you're a writer, I highly recommend that you join The Loop - a social network geared specifically towards "playwrights, librettists, composers and anyone else who is actively working on creating their life as a theatre artist." Think of it as a Facebook for writers. With The Loop, you'll be able to connect with an extraordinary amount of fellow writers and access countless submission opportunities. If you're a regular reader of this blog, you may remember me mentioning this very same network back in August - see, it's so great I'm giving it a second recommendation! Just visit the link above, click on "Social Network," create your profile, and start exploring! (and while you're at it, add me as your friend!)

Community
Writing can be a lonely game at times. Good thing playwright Adam Szymkowicz has taken it upon himself to interview 200+ playwrights and post the transcripts on his blog! I'd highly suggest bookmarking this remarkable resource and visiting it whenever you have a free moment. I find it incredibly helpful to hear from those who are in my shoes to see how they've overcome the difficulties they've had to face and what inspires them to push onward. Some of my favorite playwrights featured on Adam's blog are Luis Alfaro who directed Tombs of the Vanishing Indian during our 2009 First Look Series, Jacqueline Goldfinger who was one of our dramaturgs at our 2008 Playwrights Retreat, Lin-Manuel Miranda (aka my current crush) who I just saw in The Pantages production of In the Heights, and Caridad Svich who is just about one of the sweetest artists I have ever met.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival
OSF is one of the oldest professional non-profit theatres in the nation. Although the theatre is intrinsically linked to Shakespeare's cannon, the company is also dedicated to "the cultural richness of the United States" and boasts "the inclusion of a diversity of people, ideas and cultures." To that end, Oregon Shakes offers a variety of fellowships, apprenticeships, internships, and residencies that artists of color are strongly encouraged to apply for. Deemed the FAIR Experience, these programs are designed "to foster a collaborative exchange of knowledge, skills and perspectives between experiences professionals and the next generation of theatre practitioners." Take a look at what they have to offer and give it a try - you never know what's waiting for you around the bend.

Next week, I'll have some info about Frybread Queen and hopefully I'll be able to keep my days straight!

Till then!