Top Row (LR): Carolyn Dunn, Marci R. Rendon, Isabella Madrigal. Bottom row (LR): Honokee Dunn, Delanna Studi. (Photos graciously of native theater project.)
Hillsboro, Ore.: Today, on May 5, the national day of awareness of the native and murdered indigenous parents (#MMIW #MMir). As part of the national efforts carried out by National Center for Aboriginal Women Resources To draw attention to the crisis of violence confronted with indigenous peoples, Native theater project (NTP) Amplifies the theater work that highlights.
NTP has awarded four $ 250 cash prizes to playwrights with new plays addressing MMir: Marci Rendon, Carolyn Dunn, Isabella Madrigal and Honokee Dunn. NTP will also develop I am for invisible by Delanna Studi in the coming year with Advance gender equity in the arts (Age) and Productions of bags and luggage (B&B), culminating in a public presentation at Bag & Baggage's The Vault theater The national awareness day of next year to MMir. The play concerns a family that gathers to find a loved one missing when the authorities refuse to help.
“I loved this piece from the moment I read it,” said program director Andréa Morales in a statement. “Delanna has the superpower to write on an incredibly difficult subject with empathy and humor. She attacks MMIW with a story that is both linked to the lived experience of Aboriginal people, and accessible to the general public. This piece will make you laugh, cry, but above all, make you think. Me to do it, and for that I feel so honored. »»
The underlying causes of disproportionate rate of murder and violence in native communities are complex. In some communities, the murder rate of indigenous women is 10 times the national average, according to the National Center for Aboriginal Women Resources. In 2021, the US Secretary of the Interio Deb Haaland began the Missing and murdered unitTo improve reports and better coordinate federal and state efforts to apply the law, and to approach the fact that out of 5,712 Aboriginal women and girls who disappeared in the United States in 2017, only 116 were connected to the database of the missing persons from the Ministry of Justice (according to the Urban Indian Health Institute). A direct cause is the Man camps This brings temporary workers to extract resources such as oil, gas and now lithium. When Floor pipeline Began, crime rates increased by 82%. The jurisdictional questions create gaps in the application of the law which do not hold the non -native authors responsible for violence against the Aboriginal people. With prices, Native Theater Project recognized a range of native voices speaking of these questions.
“One of the things I love in this group is that it is multi-generational, celebrating long-standing genius writers like Marci Rendon and Carolyn Dunn, and also reflects the promising young voices that write today,” said the creative director of the native theater project Jeanette Harrison said in a press release. “In my work with young natives, almost two thirds of them choose to write on MMir. This subject is so in mind for our young people. Our children need us to solve this problem, so that they can prosper. ”
Delanna Studi, who writes I am for invisible Thanks to the project, is a citizen of the Cherokee nation. A award -winning actor, playwright and current artistic director of Native voice In Los Angeles, his show as a woman And so we walked turned through the United States, including a stop at Portland Center STGLE. It currently appears at Geva theater In New York in Pure native by Vickie Ramirez.
Marci R. Rendon received the award for Say their names. Citizen of the White Earth Nation, she is a published author whose work extends to genres, notably poetry, theater and the award Black silver Murder Mystery Series. His pieces received readings during the WHITE Earth Health / Health Conference, Outside theaterTHE History theaterand the Jungle Theater. She was appointed by Oprah in her list of Amerindian authors in 2020 to read.
Isabella Madrigal was recognized for Menil and his heartthat she wrote for the first time at the age of 16 and for which she received Yale indigenous program Performing Arts The young native playwright of Yipap) in 2020. Madrigal is a registered member of the Band of Cahuilla Indians and is of Turtle Mountain Ojibwe origin. Players players, actress and screenwriter, her artistic talent is involved in the way in which Aboriginal cultural knowledge systems, artistic expressions and oral tradition practices are crucial for the health and well-being of indigenous peoples.
The Honokee Dunn game (they / them) Turnstile Received the Yipap Prize in 2025. Dunn is a registered member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and also claims that Mvskoke Creek, Cherokee, Seminole, Tunica-Biloxi and Creole Ascendry. The two -spirited artist was in works such as Round dance by Arigon Starr, Diné nishį by Blossom Johnson, and Chat rats by Mary Sue Price. They also produced their own work, including Who do you call stoic? with Native voice to the authorAnnual annual annual festival and Stoic IndianA ten -minute game.
Carolyn M. Dunn was rewarded for his play in one act How do we miss. Creole Acadian of Louisiana, she is a tribal descendant of Freedman not registered with three tribes based in Oklahoma and a tunic / choctaw-bilox and Atakapas-Ishak descendant. She is a poet and playwright with works on the family, sorrow and resilience. Books include Overfoxing Coyote,, Coyote speaksand more. His pieces The Queen of Fybreas, Soledad, And Three sisters have been developed and staged to Native voice to the author.
In addition to these writers, Harrison has organized a list of 15 recommended pieces which addresses #Mmir on the New Play Exchange. “My hope,” said Harrison in a statement, “is that other theaters across the country will also develop and produce these pieces, and we can inspire change.”
A resident bag and luggage program, Native theater project (NTP) develops and produces in collaboration of native playwrights theater. NTP is associated with tribal nations, community organizations and other theaters to provide career development, leadership programs and artistic education programs.
Productions of bags and luggage (B&B) is a social impact theater company that uses artistic expression to arouse cultural ties and unifying the community through significant transformative engagement and learning opportunities.
Advance gender equity in the arts (AGE) is an organization of social justice and artistic services that works to transform American theater from its roots in white patriarchy. Its mission is to invest in cinemas that have historically refused opportunities due to sex, race or age.
