To summarize the activities of The Native Theater Festival this November at The Public Theater is a daunting prospect. Over the course of the three-day festival, November 12 through 15, there were seven field discussions, three readings, three post-performance discussions, one panel discussion, a writer’s roundtable, and a plethora of interviews with festival participants. I think it safest to borrow a sentiment from Eric Gansworth’s play Re-creation Story and start off by apologizing for every error I’m about to make.
It is a great honor for me to be invited by The Public Theater to conduct the interviews and gather my thoughts for The Native Theater Festival Journal, and I hope in some small way to honor all the voices and good words that were spoken. My goal has been, inasmuch as possible, to serve as a conductor and allow the voices to speak for themselves. Therefore, you’ll find meaty interviews with the playwrights and directors, as well as conversations with The Public Theater's Artistic Director Oskar Eustis, Betsy Theobald Richards from the Ford Foundation, and Native Theater Festival Consultant Sheila Tousey. I’ve also included a conversation with actor Cody Lightning and a special conversation with Spiderwoman Theater Artistic Director Muriel Miguel. I endeavored to edit as little as possible of these conversations so that the strong voices can come through in their own rhythm and time.
Likewise, I also offer a couple of audio podcasts which include my interview with Native soul singer Martha Redbone, who opened the festival with a concert at Joe’s Pub, and with the three playwrights presenting work at the festival. My coverage of the plays is included in the journal, and you’ll also find transcripts from all of the field discussions.
Within these panels, post-show discussions, and in my writer’s round table meeting, the usual concerns about identity, cultural sensitivity, responsibility, and the viability of Native work were discussed in great detail, but there were also moments where we reached lift-off beyond these issues and met, practitioner to practitioner, to really engage in conversations that were just about art making.
Click around, read the interviews, reviews and discussions, listen to the podcasts, and enjoy the wealth of information that the artists and practitioners from this year’s festival so warmly shared with me and with one another.
