Native Theatre News

Special Offer - New Native Theatre Presents Good Medicine Festival (Dec. 3 - Dec. 13, 2020)

New Native Theatre presents its Fourth Annual Play Festival: Good Medicine. It will run virtually from December 3, 2020 to December 12, 2020 and feature Native American, First Nations, Māori, and Sámi artists from all around the world. The festival’s theme centers around Good Medicine, (inspired by Yvette Nolan’s book Medicine Shows that describes the importance of medicine in Native theatre) and Indigenous Futurism where Indigenous peoples reclaim and reframe their stories and imagine a vibrant future.

The Wirelings, an experimental digital theatre company, have announced their formation, as well as their first production season.

Tony Award-nominated playwright, actress, and activist Danai Gurira, two-time Tony Award-winning director Stephen Daldry, and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage will present a very special event to get out the vote – Act Out: Vote2020, a series of short, all new monologues and songs that will make up an hour-long video encouraging audiences to vote in the upcoming elections.

In response to the We See You White American Theater, Baltimore Center Stage has announced its first round of shifts in practices to help dismantle the systemic exclusion and oppression of BIPOC artists, administrators, producers and executives in the theater industry.

Randy Reinholz (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma), Producing Artistic Director of Native Voices at the Autry, is stepping down after more than two decades leading America's only Equity theatre company devoted exclusively to developing and producing new work by Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and First Nations playwrights.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival today announced Branden Jacobs-Jenkins as the 37th and final commissioned artist as part of American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle, OSF's multi-decade program for developing new plays about moments of change in United States history.

The Autry announced today the appointment of DeLanna Studi (Cherokee) as the new Co-Artistic Director of Native Voices. As the only Equity theatre company dedicated exclusively to developing and producing new work by Native American artists, Studi's hiring furthers the theatre company's commitment to developing the next generation of indigenous writers, directors, producers, and performers. 

Spiderwoman Theater, the legendary downtown New York theatre ensemble, will stage the latest phase in its ambitious a?oeMisdemeanor Dreama?? project, at New York City's Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street, in work-in-progress performances Thursday through Saturday, February 5, 6, and 7, all at 7:30pm.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival wrapped up its 2019 season October 26-27 with the final performances of Mother Road, How to Catch Creation, As You Like It, La Comedia of Errors, Indecent, Between Two Knees, Hairspray a?" The Broadway Musical, and Cambodian Rock Band. Preparations for the 2020 season and this month's 2020 Member Presale are already underway. The 2020 opening weekend is March 6-March 8; preview performances begin February 28.

In three years, Perseverance Theatre playwright-in-residence Vera Starbard has developed legendary worlds in prehistoric Tlingit country, adapted Jane Austen for Alaska village life, and interviewed dynamic Alaska Native leaders for biographical stories. Through the generosity of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Perseverance Theatre will be continuing its partnership with Starbard for at least three more years. The Mellon Foundation has extended Starbard's National Playwright Residency Program with Perseverance through June 2022, administered in partnership with HowlRound.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival today announced six new commissions as part of American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle, OSF's multi-decade program of commissioning and developing 37 new plays about moments of change in United States history. The commissioned artists are Zakiyyah Alexander, Jaclyn Backhaus, E. M. Lewis, Mary Katheryn Nagle, Sara Nović, and Sanaz Toossi.

Musical Theatre Heritage not only brings OKLAHOMA! to the Kansas City stage, but also to 2019. The musical classic OKLAHOMA! opened on Saturday, June 8 at Crown Center and runs through June 30. The 1943 box-office smash was the first written by the team of Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. Based on the 1931 play by Lynn Riggs, GREEN GROWS THE LILACS, it is set out to tell the story of Laurey and her two suitors Curly and Jud in Oklahoma before it reached statehood.

Monday, June 24 through Saturday, August 31, 2019, the Spreckels Organ Society and Artistic Director Raul Prieto Ramirez present the 32nd annual San Diego International Organ Festival at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, eleven concerts featuring international talent pushing the artistic boundaries of a traditional sound in Balboa Park's most majestic open air setting.

Native Voices at the Autry, America's leading Native American theatre company, presents its 25th Annual Festival of New Plays at the Autry Museum of the American Westand La Jolla Playhouse. The festival features staged readings of new and in-progress plays by Native writers followed by talkbacks in which each audience member becomes an important part of the collaborative process. 

The University of New Mexico's Department of Theatre and Dance is pleased to announce the world premiere 1n2ian ('Indian') by Jay B. Muskett, a 3rd year student in UNM's award winning MFA in Dramatic Writing Program. 1n2ian, directed by Gleason Bauer, will be presented as part of the 2019 Linnell Festival of New Plays, with performances April 11 through 14, 2019 in Rodey Theatre on UNM's Main Campus. This year's Festival also includes directed readings of new works by 2nd year MFA playwrights Aniello Fontano and Nelle Tankus as well as a reading by 1st year MFA playwright Shannon Flynn. A special addition the year will be a fully staged new play for young audiences, (Don't You) Forget About Me, created in collaboration with DATA High School.

For the third show in its Tenth Anniversary Season, New Native Theatre produces a story that examines how college life factors into a Native American existence. Wounspe Wanktya - A College Education, follows the story of Tashina and Tiffany, two Lakota freshmen in college, when they decide to sew a sacred dress to help them get through their four years of school as they experience the good, the bad, the funny, and the spiritual. Written by Lakota playwright Alex Hesbrook Ramier, New Native Theatre produced a version of this play at their Third Annual National Native American Ten Minute Play Festival. Now, audiences can witness the story in its entirety at the world premiere!

Stages Theatre Company is excited to announce its collaboration with New Native Theatre in creation and production of The Three Snow Bears. Inspired by Jan Brett's The Three Snow Bears, this world-premiere production follows a courageous Yup'ik girl and her brother as they learn how climate change impacts their community.

Continuing its role as the only Equity theatre company dedicated exclusively to developing new work by Native American artists, Native Voices at the Autry presents its eighth annual Short Play Festival: Food! Held during the Autry Museum of the American West's American Indian Arts Marketplace on Sunday, November 11, 2018, the event features new short plays by Native American playwrights that pose the question: What's on the table in Indian Country?

New Native Theatre kicks-off its tenth anniversary season with the world premier of Red Running into Water. Written by Navajo playwright, Blossom Johnson and directed by Navajo director, Rhiana Yazzie, the Artistic Director and founder of New Native Theatre. Red Running into Water is the English translation of the Navajo clan, Tachii'nii.