Community members Holly Spaude and Marcus Daniels are shown in the back center.
A group of Native American actors graced the stage at the Forest County Potawatomi Executive Building auditorium the weekend of Oct. 8 – 9, 2016. Based in the Twin Cities, these performers operate under New Native Theatre (NNT) and are proud to be a part of the upper Midwest’s only Native American-owned and operated 501(c)3 theatre company.
Two performances occurred on the evening of Oct. 8. The 25-minute show, Stolen Generation, caught the attention of the audience with a mixture of chuckles and even tears. It was about Anishinaabe sisters who were forcibly separated from their family by social services. They were each put up for adoption in different white homes. When Katie returned as an adult, she located her sister, who wasn’t ready to come home due to much anger, betrayal and secrets. Eventually, she returned home, opened up to and reunited with her sister. According to the NNT brochure, “…the play acknowledges that as Native communities, we wait, we pray and we never stop calling to their spirits to come home.”
Stolen Generation featured Delinda Oogie Pushetonequa (Meskwaki) as Claire, Andrea Fairbanks (Leech Lake Ojibwe) as Katie and Inez DeCoteau (Turtle Mountain Ojibwe) as Josie. It was written by Ardie Medina (Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe) and directed by Martha Johnson.
The second performance followed. Sneaky, a 55-minute production, was a dark comedy about two brothers and a sister who stole their mother’s body from the local mortician. The siblings learn to overcome their own uncertainties and disloyalties to each other. In the end, they join as a family to give their mother the traditional burial that she would want.
Sneaky featured Delinda Oogie Pushetonequa (Meskwaki) as Frankie Rose, Kyle Hill (Turtle Mountain Ojibwe) as Eldon Rose, AJ Kapashesit (Moose Factory Cree & White Earth Ojibwe) as Kermit Rose and Donavan Mountain (Red Lake Ojibwe) as Jack Kence. It was written by William S. Yellow Robe Jr. (Assiniboine) and directed by Brian Joyce (White Earth Ojibwe).
Stage/tour manager was Quinci Bachman.
The same acts were performed the next day in the early afternoon after the acting workshop concluded (see article on page 5). A brief question-answer session followed each performance.
Even though the audience was low in numbers, the ones who did attend were really glad they came. Louie Spaude and his wife, Diane, went to the Saturday night performance. He had this to say to Potawatomi Traveling Times afterwards: “I think it was portrayed with a lot of emotion and pointed to the problem [referring to Stolen Generation].” The actors were all great in both performances, he added.
Carole Daniels commented, “I thought the plays touched base on a lot of Native issues, both past and present. It was both humor and serious. It brought tears to my eyes and Dad’s eyes. It was very well put together.” Evelynn and Elizabeth Soman attended the Sunday afternoon show with Daniels and her father, Walter Shepard. “I would love to see them again,” she added.
Besides acknowledging the actors, writers and directors, Potawatomi Traveling Times brings attention to the mastermind of NNT – Rhiana Yazzie. Enrolled Navajo Nation member and artistic director Yazzie created NNT in 2009 by playwright to bring together the many local theatres and the greater urban Native community. According to NNT’s website, NNT engages artists and spectators by “producing commissioned and existing plays by Native playwrights”, “producing community-created plays about cultural and social justice topics”, “presenting the best Native American productions from around North America”, providing an array of theatre training to Native American community members”, “engaging in collaborations with Native artists and Native organizations of varying artistic disciplines”.
Are you interested in acting, directing or writing scripts? Contact Yazzie at (612) 367-7639, email info@newnativetheatre.org, or visit the website www.newnativetheatre.org. NNT has opened the door for any Native community member to learn and work with its company. Don’t think you are too old to make your dream come true of being on stage – they have worked with people from 10 to 70 years old! “We relish in giving opportunities to people that no one else considers due to age and ethnicity,” stated from NNT website.