Two Worlds, a Native American theatre company will be hosting Albuquerque鈥檚 first Native American theatre festival April 28-30.
Artistic director Kim Gleason said the inaugural festival is primarily about Native people reclaiming their own identity by representing themselves through a Native lens within the plays as actors and incorporating issues that are affecting Native people today.
鈥淲e want it to make sure that we understand that resources are important when it comes to New Mexico water and land,鈥� Gleason said. 鈥淎nd we want to take in mind that the environment is pretty important to our Indigenous company going forward. Because performing arts to us is a healing ceremony.鈥�
The festival will begin and end with a reception prayer along with stage readings, panel discussions and the theatrical plays at both the University of New Mexico鈥檚 Experimental Theatre and the Vortex Theatre.
The festival is premiering three plays: 鈥淲ings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light鈥� by former U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo (Muscogee), 鈥淭he Rez Sisters鈥� directed by Tomson Highway (Cree), and 鈥淒ancing with Fire鈥� by Gleason (Din茅).
Gleason says it's important for artists to collect feedback from the community.
鈥淲hen we put together a program, we ask questions like, 鈥榃hat can we do next? What have we done that our community hasn't seen? And what would the audience like to see?鈥欌��
Gleason will have a screen reading of her self-written play 鈥淒ance With Fire,鈥� that she wrote in 2015, the play takes place in the 1970s.
鈥淚t had to do with a Navajo family who lived on a reservation and was going through the Vietnam era. What it means to be drafted and what it was to live in that time,鈥� she said.
Gleason said her inspiration for the play came from her mother's life.
鈥淚t was like a celebratory moment because I wanted to share that matriarchal bravery that she had to overcome to be the person she was in her day. And she was a very good matriarchal figure to myself and my family.鈥�
Another prominent figure for the festival is Lori Tapahonso, a Din茅/Acoma actress currently serving as the President of the Board of Directors for Two Worlds.
Tapahonso said the push for a Native American theater festival is growing and hopes to see it evolve into a National Performing Arts Center for Native Americans in Albuquerque.
鈥淪o actually having an opportunity to create and make this a reality has kind of just emerged, and it was just serendipitous that it鈥檚 happening,鈥� Tapahonso said.
She says this Native theater company can be a leader by forging paths that haven鈥檛 been created.
鈥淎nd helping others in mainstream theater to understand just how incredible and how unique Native American theater is,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 something that we haven't seen a lot of but we鈥檙e hoping we will see a lot more.鈥�
Tapahonso helped build Native American theater companies in Oregon and New York. She says the momentum behind building strong and rich avenues for Native voices and creativity is there and it's an untapped market.
鈥淲e are storytellers. It鈥檚 part of our DNA, to tell stories, to think in this creative manner. So creating avenues for that to come to life is exactly what Two Worlds wants to be part of to create,鈥� she said.
Tapahonso is one of the seven actresses starring in 鈥淩ez Sister鈥�, a play about a group of women with a dream of winning 鈥渢he biggest bingo in the world.鈥� To do so they must leave their Manitoulin Island reserve to the big city of Toronto.
鈥淚t's been a while since I've been in a full fledged production,鈥� said Tapahonso. 鈥淚t's healing and beautiful for us as actors to come in and take words on a page. Just to watch the transformation from a story to this beautiful visual and emotional experience.鈥�
She says getting to see how the audience reacts to the performance is also a benefit.
鈥淚t鈥檚 neat because Native theater is just so vastly different from any other kind of theater experience,鈥� she said.
Tapahonso said Native actors are, 鈥渙verlooked, because they don't fit a certain mold, a certain visual representation that's wanted,鈥� when they audition for TV, film or theatre plays.
On top of working with Two Worlds, Gleason was hired by the University of New Mexico to teach a new, first of its kind class in the theater program,鈥淣ative American Storytelling in Drama鈥�
As an alumnus of UNM鈥檚 Theatre Department, Gleason said she was honored to be the first Native American instructor teaching a theater class about Native American storytelling.
鈥淚 get to be one of the first people to share what Native storytelling is, and the students seem to be engaged,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e been learning a lot about the producing side of Native theater and just learning what it takes to represent theatrical productions through a Native lens.鈥�
Gleason said there鈥檚 more to it when it comes to telling Native stories.
鈥淯nderstanding that telling your stories through honest and creative expression takes a lot of balancing of two worlds at the same time,鈥� she said. Making sure that we protect our storytelling with great care, and not overstepping your boundaries with our elders and not sharing too much with the general public.鈥�
She says that some stories need to be held in spaces not meant for the public. But that doesn鈥檛 mean Native Americans aren鈥檛 trying to provide a mainstream culture with a positive representation of Native people.
Gleason said one of the recurring themes in her class is the idea of identity of Native American people. She said non-Native people in performing arts tend to cast non-Native actors in roles made specifically for Native American actors.
To prevent this, Gleason said, 鈥淲e need to advocate in performing arts, especially for Native storytelling. We need to do things for our people and by our people. Having Native writers, Native directors, Native actors, even Natives all the way down to the stage crew, is essential to having representation in the right way.鈥�
鈥淲e have our own voice and we don't need outside voices to tell us what we need to do to manage a Native American company. When it comes to decision making, it should be led through an Indigenous lens,鈥� she said.
IF YOU GO:
Festival for Native American Theatre
April 28-30
Stage Reading of 鈥淒ancing with Fire鈥� by Kim Delfina Gleason (Din茅)
5 p.m. 鈥� 7 p.m.
The Rez Sisters
April 29, 7:30 p.m.
April 30, 2 p.m.
Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light
Experimental Theater, Univ. of New Mexico
April 29, 4 p.m.
