2008 Festival Schedule

Wednesday, November 12 at 9:30pm
SPECIAL JOE'S PUB EVENT
Martha Redbone (Choctaw/Shawnee/Cherokee/Blackfeet)

Singer/soulwriter Martha Redbone's songs carry the torch for love from the romantic to the universal and are infused in an "ingenious aural tapestry" (Music Connection) that pays homage to her Native & African American heritage.

Thursday, November 13 from 9-10am
Opening Prayer & “Meet The Public” Panel

Thursday, November 13 from 10am-12pm
Field Discussion: Modern Approaches to Traditional Storytelling
Moderator: Jennifer Podemski (CEO and Executive Producer, Redcloud Studios)
Panelists: Doug Bedard (Hip Hop Artist), Tamara Podemski (performer), and Dianne Yeahquo Reyner (playwright).

Thursday, November 13 from 1-3pm
Field Discussion: Bringing Native Theater to a Wider Audience
Moderator: Randy Reinholz (Artistic Director of Native Voices at the Autry/Director of The School of Theatre, Television and Film at SDSU)
Panelists: Betsy Theobald Richards (Program Officer, Ford Foundation/director), and Charles Weldon (Artistic Director of The Negro Ensemble).

Thursday, November 13 from 4-6pm
Field Discussion: Cultivating the Artist
Moderator: Alanis King (Artistic Director, Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company)
Panelists: Terry Gomez (playwright), Christopher Hibma (Associate Director, Theatre Program, Sundance Institute), Randy Reinholz, and Rose Stella (Artistic Director, Centre for Indigenous Theatre).

Thursday, November 13 at 8pm
The Conversion of Ka'ahumanu
By Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl (Native Hawaiian /Samoan)
Directed by Marie Clements (Metis/Dene)

Set in Hawaii during the early 19th Century, this poignant piece explores the complex relationships amongst Christian missionaries and indigenous women forty years after the islands' first contact with the West. Honolulu-based writer Victoria Kneubuhl is a recipient of the prestigious Hawai`i Award for Literature.

Post-Show Discussion: Writing About Early Cultural Contact
Special Guests: Marie Clements (director), Diane Glancy (playwright), Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl (playwright), and Betsy Theobold Richards (Program Officer, Media, Arts & Culture at The Ford Foundation/director).

Friday, November 14 from 10am-12pm
Field Discussion: Staging the Sacred
Moderator: Daniel David Moses (playwright/poet)
Panelists: Eric Gansworth (playwright), Monique Mojica (performer), and Edward Wemytewa (Playwright/performer/visual artist).

Friday, November 14 from 1-3pm
Field Discussion: Native Plays and the Academic Community
Moderator: Terry Gomez
Panelists: Randy Reinholz, Dianne Yeahquo Reyner, Karmenlara Seidman (Professor of Drama, NYU), and William S. Yellow Robe, Jr.

Friday, November 14 from 4-6pm
Field Discussion: Talking With Native Artists
Moderator: Sheila Tousey (actor/director)
Panelists: Gary Farmer (Performer), Muriel Miguel (Spiderwoman Theatre), Tamara Podemski, Martha Redbone (singer/songwriter), and Chaske Spencer (performer).

Friday, November 14 at 8pm
Chasing Honey
By Laura Shamas (Chickasaw)
Directed by Alanis King (Odawa Nation)

With her loving father serving in Afghanistan and her drug-addicted mother coming back into her life, Sandy turns to Len, keeper of a struggling bee colony and new member of her college's Native American Studies Club. Chasing Honey has received workshops at Native Earth in Toronto and Native Voices at The Autry in Los Angeles.

Post-Show Discussion: Contemporary Native Playwriting
Special Guests: Native playwrights Eric Gansworth, Diane Glancy, Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl, Laura Shamas, and William S. Yellow Robe, Jr.

Saturday, November 15 from 10am-12pm
Field Discussion: Directing and Dramaturging Culturally Specific Work
Moderator: Randy Reinholz
Panelists: Oskar Eustis (Artistic Director of The Public Theater), Morgan Jenness (dramaturg/agent), Yvette Nolan (Artistic Director of Native Earth Performing Arts) and Betsy Theobald Richards.

Saturday, November 15 at 4pm
Panel Discussion: Politics and Performance

Moderated by Oskar Eustis (Artistic Director of The Public Theater) and Sheila Tousey (actor, director, and Native Theater Festival Consultant). Panelists include Terry Gomez (playwright, director, actor, and educator), Alanis King (Artistic Director, Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company), Yvette Nolan (Artistic Director, Native Earth Performing Arts), Jennifer Podemski (CEO and Executive Producer, Redcloud Studios), and Randy Reinholz (Artistic Director, Native Voices at the Autry and Director of the School of Theatre, Television and Film at SDSU).

Saturday, November 15 at 8pm
Re-Creation Story
By Eric Gansworth (Onondaga)
Directed by Leigh Silverman

Novelist, poet, essayist and visual artist Eric Gansworth, winner of the PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles National Literary Award for Fiction, brings us his personal exploration of the Haudenosaunee creation narrative. He playfully alters the oral tradition's fluid nature to reflect issues relevant to a contemporary Haudenosaunee life.

Post-Show Discussion: Bringing Oral Tradition to the Stage
Special Guests: Eric Gansworth (playwright), Daniel David Moses (playwright), Leigh Silverman (director), and Edward Wemytewa (playwright/performer).