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American-Indians-R-Real
Friday November 2, 2007
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| Posted: October 24, 2007 |
| by: Eva Thomas |
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Photo courtesy Native Voices at the Autry -- Thirza Defoe, Oneida/Ojibwe, portrayed Sacajawea, or Bird Woman, in Cherokee playwright Diane Glancy's ''Stone Heart: Everyone Loves a Journey West.'' Native Voices at the Autry is a professional Los Angeles-based theater company devoted to developing new scripts by American Indian writers. |
| LOS ANGELES - Over the last decade, a virtual who's who of American Indian theater artists has worked with Native Voices at the Autry. From Canadian playwright Drew Hayden Taylor, Ojibway, to up-and-coming playwright Larissa Fast Horse, Sicangu Nation, Native playwrights are finding a home to develop works for the stage.
Native Voices at the Autry is a professional Los Angeles-based theater company devoted to developing new scripts by American Indian writers. It is becoming a hot bed for contemporary Native theater. Taking the writer from workshop to staged reading to full Equity productions, Native Voices is committed to creating Native stories.
While teaching at Illinois State University, Native Voices Artistic Director Randy Reinholz, Choctaw, and Native Voices Executive Director Jean Bruce Scott began the task of finding American Indian plays and playwrights.
''I was asked to champion work around Native Americans,'' Reinholz said. ''We found some plays written by Natives and produced a number of staged play readings.'' From 1994 - '96, Reinholz and Scott organized a festival of plays at Illinois State featuring Native works.
Reinholz and Scott continued to develop the plays of Native playwrights; and in 1999, Native Voices at the Autry was born in collaboration with the Gene Autry Museum located in Los Angeles' Griffith Park.
In the mid-'90s, the Autry Museum was putting together an exhibit focusing on images of American Indians and turned to Reinholz and Scott to help create a live theater piece as part of the exhibit. That production was ''Urban Tattoo,'' a one-woman show by Marie Clements, Metis.
Since then, Native Voices has grown and developed into a gathering point for Native theater artists in Los Angeles.
The main focus of Native Voices is to develop the work of Native playwrights. The Festival of New Plays, in which a series of new works are read by professional actors, occurs each November. A full Equity production takes place in the spring. The plays read at the festival and the spring productions are often workshopped through the Native Voices writing retreats.
This past March, Drew Hayden Taylor's ''The Berlin Blues'' was produced by Native Voices. After the play's run at the Wells Fargo Theater at the Autry Museum, ''The Berlin Blues'' was taken on tour to play at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., and the American Indian Community House in New York City.
Fast Horse's play, ''Teaching Disco Square Dance to Our Elders: A Class Presentation,'' will be one of several scripts to be featured in the upcoming Festival of New Plays.
''Native Voices has been wonderful,'' said Fast Horse. ''They are really committed to making sure Native Theater has a home and helping to promote, not only my work, but the work of other Native writers nationally.''
Native Voices holds a call for scripts each December and a number of playwrights are invited to a weeklong retreat in Los Angeles to develop their work.
''What the writing retreat offers playwrights is the opportunity to focus on writing,'' Reinholz said. ''They also have the opportunity to have professional actors read their plays and receive valuable feedback on their work.''
Since 2000, Native Voices at the Autry has held more than 45 workshops, presented more than 35 public staged play readings and produced seven full productions of Native plays.
In addition, Native Voices has developed programs to reach out to both local youth and young people in different reservation communities through its Young Native Voices: Theater Education Project, and Reservation Outreach Programs.
In conjunction with the Southern California Indian Center, Native Voices invites a number of young playwrights to attend the Theater Education Project. The young writers are paired with professional Native artists and mentored through the playwriting process. The workshop ends with a staged reading of their plays.
The Reservation Outreach Program is a way for Native Voices to touch communities in Indian country. Over the last few years, Native Voices has held artists residences at the Coeur d'Alene Reservation in Idaho and the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation in southern California.
Native Voices also organizes a number of artist workshops for Los Angeles' Native community. Acting, film production and writing workshops were offered free of charge to the public in September.
The workshops, Festival of New Plays, and full stage productions also provide a number of opportunities for Native artists to gather, make connections and build a sense of community.
Tim Harjo, Seminole, recently relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. He attended several workshops offered by Native Voices in September. ''I met a number of Native people in the industry during that weekend,'' Harjo said. ''It was nice to meet other L.A. Natives.''
Native Voices recently partnered with Native American Public Telecommunications in developing radio plays. This year, Native Voices produced ''Super Indian,'' written by Arigon Starr, Kickapoo/Creek. The radio play was recorded in front of a live theater audience. ''Super Indian'' will broadcast on Native Voice One (www.nv1.org) this November. Starr's one-woman show, ''The Red Road,'' was also produced by Native Voices in 2006.
Rose-Yvonne Colletta, Lipan/Mescalero Apache and production manager for Native Voices, said, ''Although the focus is on developing Native playwrights, as a result of taking those plays into festival and production, we hire Native actors, Native stage managers and Native crew members.''
Native Voices at the Autry is becoming an integral component of the Los Angeles theater scene and providing a number of workshops and opportunities for Native talent.
''When we started looking for Native plays to produce back in 1994, we found five plays,'' Reinholz said. ''Now there are over 100 plays written by Native playwrights.''
For more information on Native Voices at the Autry, visit www.autrynationalcenter.org/nativevoices.php. | | | | |
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| Posted: October 31, 2007 |
| by: Dale Carson / Indian Country Today |
Although there are pow wows and festivals all over the country all year long, here in New England outdoor venues are slowing down somewhat. Recently, a festival of which I am co-chairman was held at a beautiful state park with two miles of beach on Long Island Sound, Hammonasset Beach State Park in Connecticut. We held a smaller version two years ago with the theme of celebrating Nature and Native Americans. It seems to be a natural blend.
Native Americans are the stewards of the land, living and understanding every bit of it. ''We belong to the Earth, it does not belong to us,'' as the great Chief Seattle observed.
Today, fortunately, there are many people of all cultures who have a strong interest in preserving the environment and in all things natural. These interests came together beautifully. At our first pow wow/festival, we enjoyed the tail end of a recent hurricane as winds tore through the site and took down tents and displays during the night. Rain, fog and drizzle followed the next day. It did not deter many who came with rain gear, umbrellas and enthusiasm. Undaunted, they trudged on through the mud and asked us to please do it again.
The next year, we did not have the resources but hoped to keep peoples' interest by holding a concert featuring Grammy nominee Joseph Fire Crow. His words of wisdom, voice and carriage speak volumes. This year we invited him again, as well as many fine craft vendors, museums, nature centers and food vendors. The weather was perfect both days. The dancers and drums delighted all ages as they educated the audience before each number. The Native food vendors had long lines and great food! Raves everywhere, and not a clamcake left!
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Venison Burgers
1 pound ground venison
1 onion, chopped small
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 egg
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 strip bacon, cooked and set aside
Combine ground venison in a large bowl with the rest of ingredients, including cooked bacon. Crumble the bacon into the mixture and form patties. Saute the patties for about 5 minutes per side and serve on toasted buns. The bacon gives more flavor (read: fat) to the lean venison meat.
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Succotash Clam Chowder
12 littleneck clams, scrubbed
1 cup corn kernels, fresh or canned
1 cup lima beans, canned or frozen
1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped small
2 strips bacon, cut in 1/2-inch pieces
1 sweet onion, chopped small
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
2 cups water
2 cups clam broth
1 cup heavy cream
Fresh ground black pepper
Steam the clams in 2 cups of water in a heavy pot and remove clams with tongs when they open. Let cool, then set aside in a bowl. Do not discard water. In a heavy frying pan, saute the bacon, onion and red bell pepper in canola oil for about 10 minutes. Put onion/bacon mixture into the clam water and add enough water and/or clam juice to make about 4 cups of liquid. Stir in parsley and thyme. Boil gently for 5 minutes. Add cream, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the corn and limas. Remove most of the clams from the shells and add to pot.
Save about 3 or 4 clams in the shell and put them in, too, just for presentation. Sprinkle with the black pepper and let chowder sit for about 20 to 30 minutes or refrigerate overnight.
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Hominy and Butternut
1 cup hominy, white or yellow
1 medium butternut squash
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon each: cumin and brown sugar
1 dash salt
2 tablespoons dried cranberries
Cook squash and mash it. Put butter in a saute pan and melt it, then add mashed squash and hominy. Stir around on low heat for about 5 minutes. Add cumin, sugar and salt. (Drain hominy if using canned.) Dried cranberries are optional, but they add more sweetness.
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Wild Rice with Cranberries
3 cups cooked wild rice
1 bag frozen cranberries or 2 cups fresh
1/2 cup orange marmalade
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine cooked rice, cranberries and marmalade in a greased baking dish. Cover and bake for 30 - 35 minutes.
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Notes and Tips
* A really nice taste combo I discovered recently is mashed butternut mixed with mashed carrots and then a dash of cinnamon.
* If you make deviled eggs, here's a way to do it fast. Put yolks and other ingredients in a strong (freezer-type) plastic bag, then mush it around and cut a small piece of bottom corner off and use it like a pastry pipe bag to fill the whites. This technique also works for filling manicotti tubes.
* To keep tortillas hot at the table, put them between two hot plates. | | | | | |
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| Posted: October 31, 2007 |
| by: Staff Reports / Indian Country Today |
SAN FRANCISCO - Dennis Banks, Floyd ''Red Crow'' Westerman, Kris Kristofferson and Peter Coyote will participate in a benefit concert, ''Music for Mother Earth,'' Nov. 3 at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium. The event will bring together American Indian leaders and high-profile celebrities with the aim to raise funds and awareness for the Longest Walk II: A Walk Across America for the Environment, to take place in 2008.
The Longest Walk II is a 4,400-mile journey that will commemorate the 30th anniversary of the original Longest Walk, which took place in 1978, and work to bring attention to today's critical environmental issues. The Longest Walk II will begin in San Francisco in February 2008 and end in Washington, D.C., in July 2008.
The Longest Walk II is being led by American Indian Movement co-founder Dennis Banks. That event successfully brought attention to 11 legislative bills introduced in the 95th U.S. Congress that would have abrogated treaties that protected remaining Native sovereignty. All 11 bills were defeated in Congress.
Similar to 1978, The Longest Walk II is a peaceful, spiritual effort to engage with the public about the disharmony of the environment by leading an effort to clean up communities. The Clean Up America campaign is a national effort taken up by Longest Walk participants to clean up our country's highways and roads by collecting debris found along the route. This monumental task will engage walkers in a global effort at a grass-roots level to promote harmony with the environment. Participants will carry specially marked trash bags to separate the collected refuse into trash bins and recycling bins. A rotating team of walkers will pick up trash along the way with trash pokers.
The walk is a grass-roots effort to recognize the success of the 1978 Longest Walk, which effectively halted legislation that might have had devastating effects on the tribes' sovereignty while cleaning up America mile by mile, village to village, state to state, shore to shore en route to Washington, D.C.
For information on The Longest Walk II, visit www.longestwalk.org. For more information about the concert, visit www.redhotpromotions.com. | | | | |
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| Elder's Meditation of the Day - November 2 |
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| "Praying is what has brought us old people through life. We've all gone through hard times. We've all done our share of bad things. But through our prayers and faith in the Creator we get together again and we try hard to live right." |
| --Paula Weasel Head, BLOOD |
| As we go through life we find ourselves on track one day and off track the next day. We gain consistency through prayer. Prayer is our connection to the Great Spirit. Prayer is our channel for knowledge and wisdom. Prayer is how we keep our sanity. The Elders say we should walk in prayer. |
Great Spirit, teach me to walk in prayer. Help keep my faith string | | | | |
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