TOWN OF LITTLE SAGAS From SPIDERWOMAN Premieres May 3

Spiderwoman Theater, the legendary downtown New York theatre ensemble, premieres "Town of Little Sagas," a new podcast series that begins airing on Monday May 3 at 12:01am and is available at www.spiderwomantheater.org

Written and directed by Spiderwoman co-founder Muriel Miguel, the richly textured radio plays follow the everyday lives of the inhabitants of an imaginary Native town, somewhere in North America. Set in the present, but without a precise location, other than that the town sits at the juncture of the modern world and "the tall snow-capped mountains," "Town of Little Sagas" features a multi-generational cast of Spiderwoman ensemble members. The creative team includes composer Soni Moreno; sound designer and audio engineer Steafan Hannigan, and song co-creator Henu Josephine Tarrant.

In "Town of Little Sagas" we visit the homes of the characters, as normal everyday life is happening. Here we are treated to a tapestry of characters, relations, concerns, dreams, frustrations, obsessions and ideas that are gripping and noteworthy, yet also mundane and commonplace. We capture life without pretense. In fact, as the narrator explains, the town is an idyl in its own way - "a pretty Native town, owned by Natives, run by Natives, with a café, a community hall and a place to have a pow-wow where people listen to each other, work out problems and like each other. Or maybe not. It's up to them." The cast includes Sid Bobb, Penny Couchie, Animikiikwe Couchie-Waukey, Donna Couteau, Lisa Cromarty, Joe Cross, Sharon Day, Wolfen de Kastro, Steve Elm, Sir Curtis Kirby Day, Marjolaine Mckenzie, Gloria Miguel, Soni Moreno, Tom Pearson, Henu Josephine Tarrant, and Imelda Villalon. The project is dedicated to Kevin Tarrant and company member Tyree Giroux, who both were lost in the last year from COVID. Produced in partnership with Loose Change Productions, "Town of Little Sagas" will be available from Monday May 3.

The stories flash on matters ranging from health and food, to parenting, two-spirit relationships, alcoholism, music, hobbies, boredom, and popular culture. This town is, as we are told, "a happy, normal, little haven - a town inhabited by Native people with the worries of everyday life, well maybe not little worries, sometimes they can get big and even bigger. Sometimes even huge. Depends on the way you look at it. But isn't that life?"

Spiderwoman Theater has been hailed by Public Theatre director Oskar Eustis as "one of the most influential Native Theatre companies in the history of the country." Founded in 1976, the company is lauded for its signature "storyweaving" technique, which layers traditional and contemporary narrative structures with movement, text, sound, and visual images, making bold forays into the realms of gender roles, cultural stereotypes, and family relationships.

Spiderwoman's current live theatrical production, "Misdemeanor Dream," produced with Loose Change Productions*, is a multi-disciplinary performance that explores the realm of Native story, magic, and lost language. Created by a multi-generational ensemble with members drawn from indigenous communities across North America and internationally, "Misdemeanor Dream" performed a work-in-progress production at Abrons Arts Center in February 2020. This was one of several preludes to a planned premiere at La MaMa, which is currently postponed.

Now in its 44rd consecutive season, the Brooklyn-based Spiderwoman Theater first came onto the New York theatre scene in 1976, when Muriel Miguel was joined by a diverse group of women, including her sisters Gloria Miguel and Lisa Mayo, to form a feminist theater ensemble. They later advanced the broadening recognition of the profound effects of cultural erasure perpetrated over centuries. (We are still here!) Contemporary and succeeding generations of downtown theater icons like Bloolips, Taylor Mac, and the Colorado Sisters have cited Spiderwoman as a seminal influence.

* Loose Change Productions, which has worked with Spiderwoman since 2009, is dedicated to transnational, transcultural theatre, with a social-justice emphasis.

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