Hamilton Dramaturgy's TheatreNow!


DON’T FEED THE INDIANS on youtube

Murielle Borst TarrantMurielle Borst Tarrant

La MaMa in New York City presented the Urban Indigenous Arts & Culture Symposium performance of DON’T FEED THE INDIANS – A DIVINE COMEDY PAGEANT livestreaming from CultureHub on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday November 14.

Murielle Borst Tarrant spoke about creating this pieces as a guest of TheatreNow (Season Three). Here is the transcript of our discussion: Hamilton Dramaturgy’s TheatreNow! Interview with Murielle Borst Tarrant.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE: http://youtu.be/41Vj9u0Ig-M



Today at 1pm – DON’T FEED THE INDIANS by Murielle Borst Tarrant

La MaMa Presents Urban Indigenous Arts & Culture Symposium

“Don’t Feed the Indians” –

A Divine Comedy Pageant

Friday November 14, 2014 at 1:00 PM

To see this performance Live on your computer

CLICK HERE: www.culturehub.org/live

Please stay tuned afterward with a discussion with the cast

Watch out when Indian show business meets the Doctrine of Discovery. A raucous play and political satire loosely based on Dante’s Inferno. A comedic look at the negative marginalization of Indigenous Peoples and the appropriation of Indigenous cultural and intellectual property. See what happens when the Indians push back.

Directed and written by:

Murielle Borst-Tarrant (Kuna/Rappahannock), Director “Safe Harbors”

Indigenous Arts/Theater Collective at La MaMa Theatre.

Cast:

Danielle Soames
(Mohawk Kahnawake)

Nic Billey
(Choctaw, Creek, Delaware)

Elizabeth Rolston
(Cherokee, Chippewa)

Murielle Borst-Tarrant
(Kuna Rappahanock)

Henu Josephine Tarrant
(Kuna, Rappahanock, Hopi, Hochunk)

Kevin Tarrant
(Hopi, Hochunk)

Crew:

Choreographer – Nic Billey

Musical Design- Branden Tubby (Choctaw )

Scribe and Production Consultant- Timothy Dorsey

Musical Director- Kevin Tarrant

Costume/set design- Maggie Rice (Pawnee)

Piano and Historical Musical Design- Elizabeth Thunder Bird Haile (Shinnecock) and The Shinnecock Nation Cultural Center and Museum

Production Apprentice- Kimberly Terrance (Mohawk Akwesasne)

Additional Writings:

Danielle Soames

Nic Billey

Henu Josephine Tarrant

Elizabeth Rolston

Tonya Gonnella Frichner based on her preliminary report on the Doctrine of Discovery

La MaMa Theatre in collaboration with the Weesageechak Begins to Dance Festival, Native Earth Performing Arts and First Peoples Fund and the Ford Foundation through a grant from the FPF Our Nations Spaces Program.



TheatreNow! Interview with Murielle Borst Tarrant

Hamilton Dramaturgy’s TheatreNow! is a podcast series featuring some of the most exciting women artists working in the theatre today. Anne Hamilton is the producer and host. You may listen to the podcasts and read the transcripts at http://hamiltondramaturgystheatrenow.com

 Murielle Borst Tarrant

Hamilton Dramaturgy’s TheatreNow!

Interview with Murielle Borst Tarrant

Playwright, Director and Producer

(Season 3, Episode 5, Recorded July 12, 2012)

Hamilton Dramaturgy’s TheatreNow! Interview with Murielle Borst Tarrant

Anne Hamilton: Welcome to Hamilton Dramaturgy’s TheatreNow! This is a podcast series featuring some of the most exciting female artists working in the theatre today. I’m your host, Anne Hamilton. Today our guest is Murielle Borst Tarrant.

Murielle is a member of the Kuna and Rappahannock Nations. She is an author, playwright, director, producer, cultural artist, educator, and human rights activist. She comes from a long line of cultural activism with her family’s theater company, the world famous Spiderwoman Theater, located in New York City. For four years she served as the Special Assistant and liaison to Tonya Gonnella Frichner, the North American Regional representative to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Finally, she is the director of “Safe Harbors” Indigenous Arts/Theatre Collective at La Mama ETC.

Hamilton Dramaturgy’s TheatreNow! is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the purposes of Hamilton Dramaturgy’s TheatreNow! must be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

 



TheatreNow! Season Four – Dramaturgs and Critics

The TheatreNow! Archive is currently a work-in-progress and will feature all the Season Three’s podcasts in the upcoming month.

2014 has been a building year. We have expanded our staff with the addition of Danica Rodriguez and Thais Flaitt Giannoccaro. Our global outreach has increased with representatives in the US, UK, Asia, and South America, and we have plans to translate our interviews into Korean and Portuguese. We also have a Young Adult Representative to help us build more interest in the theatre profession, especially among young women.

Season Four will be dedicated to creating an oral history of six leading dramaturgs and theatre critics active on the American scene, with specialties in new play development, new musical development, dance, opera, women’s studies, journalism, and cultural criticism . In the interviews, I will explore questions such as: How can we take advantage of advances in technology to push the dramaturgical profession forward? How have others done so? Do leading practitioners in the arts of dramaturgy and theatre criticism have anything in common? What is it? How can I expand my own practice to become an independent curator, journalist and advocate in a meaningful way? How can I advance the gender parity movement among theatre artists? How can I add content to the current movement for archiving theatre artists’ and companies’ works? How can I help the public to meet and recognize female theatrical experts across all disciplines? And, How can I use my dramaturgical skills and access to help young adults become interested in pursuing any of the theatrical professions?

Staff List

Anne Hamilton, Producer and Host
Otto Bost, Sound Designer
Cate Cammarata, US Representative
Walter Byongsok Chon, Asia Representative
Natalie Pandya, UK Representative
Danica Rodriguez, Young Adult Representative
Thais Flaitt Giannoccaro, South America Representative
Nancy Ford, Composer, TheatreNow! Theme
Helaine, Digital Archivist and Website Creator

http://hamiltondramaturgystheatrenow.com

https://soundcloud.com/theatrenow-1

 

 



TheatreNow! Expands in 2013

2013 was a year in which I worked on building TheatreNow!’s platform.

We have expanded internationally as well as in the U.S., and now have Representatives for many areas:

US Representative: Cate Cammarata
Asia Representative: Walter Byongsok Chon
UK Representative: Natalie Pandya
South America Representative: Thais Flaitt
Young Audience Development Representative: Danica Rodriguez

In April, Natalie, a recent Oxford University graduate (St. Catherine’s College), corresponded with leading UK universities and conservatories about the podcast, laying the groundwork for greater dissemination there. Natalie now works for the BBC.

During the summer, Danica, a rising senior at the prestigious Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School in Manhattan, created a proposal for introducing the podcast to young adults and theatre aficionados.

In December, I invited Thais Flaitt, a recent M.A. graduate of the University of Nebraska Omaha, to serve as our South America representative. A native of Brazil, Thais is a skilled scholar, director, and translator.

Several hundred people have listened to the audio postings on the Soundcloud site. In addition, the TheatreNow! blog (https://theatrenow.wordpress.com) drew visitors from 57 countries, and the top podcasts viewed were with Paule Constable and Jennifer Tipton, lighting designers.

The TheatreNow! website (http://hamiltondramaturgystheatrenow.com) continues to attract many visitors. Helaine’s design and archiving expertise show off the podcasts well.

2014 will bring an expansion of the program, and a posting of new podcasts, including Maria Alexandria Beech, Murielle Borst Tarrant, and Judith Malina, to complete Season Three.

Thank you for all your support and I am looking forward to expanding the program in 2014.

Hamilton Dramaturgy’s TheatreNow! is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the purposes of Hamilton Dramaturgy’s TheatreNow! must be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.



HOMEBODIES Reading Tomorrow in NYC

Congratulations to Maria Alexandria Beech, whose new play HOMEBODIES will be read tomorrow in New York City. Alex was a guest on Season Three of TheatreNow! You can read a transcript of the interview at http://hamiltondramaturgystheatrenow.com/season-three/maria-alexandria-beech/

You’re invited to a reading of

HOMEBODIES

By Alex Beech

Directed by Michelle Bossy

The cast includes Socorro Santiago, Florencia Lozano, Cathy Curtin, Omar Koury, and Jorge Cordova

Primary Stages Studio, 307 W 38th St, #1510

Sunday, April 28th, 3pm

It’s a sort of farce. About upstairs/downstairs neighbors in a brownstone.

To rsvp, write readings@primarystages.org



DANTE’S INFERNO…

Tune in to a new show directed by TheatreNow! guest Murielle Borst Tarrant. Murielle’s episode will be posted soon.

LIVE STREAM PERFORMANCE COMING TO YOU FROM LA MAMA & CULTUREHUB
“Dante’s Inferno, a journey into hell, a life in Indian show business”

Dante's Inferno...

Tune in on Monday April 29th at 11AM EST

Streaming to you live at http://www.culturehub.org/live1

Directed by Murielle Borst-Tarrant

Featuring Nicholson Billey, Tanis Parenteau, Josephine Tarrant and Kevin Tarrant

Watch out when Indian show business meets the “Doctrine of Discovery”. A raucous political satire loosely based on Dante’s Inferno. A comedic, hard hitting look at the marginalization of Indigenous Peoples and appropriation of Indigenous cultural property in show business. Watch this 30 minute workshop piece and join us afterward for a panel discussion with the cast on “Self-Determination and the Arts.”

With special guests:

Tonya Gonnella Frichner, ESQ ( Onondaga Nation, Snipe Clan) President and Founder American Indian Law Alliance

Karmenlara Ely Artistic Director of The Norwegian Theater Academy

And

Muriel Miguel ( Kuna, Rappahannock) Artistic Director of Spiderwoman Theater

http://www.murielleborsttarrant.com



TheatreNow! Interview with Maria Alexandria Beech

Hamilton Dramaturgy’s TheatreNow! is a podcast series featuring some of the most exciting women artists working in the theatre today. Anne Hamilton is the producer and host. You may listen to the podcasts and read the transcripts at http://hamiltondramaturgystheatrenow.com

  • Interview with Maria Alexandria Beech, Playwright, Bookwriter and Lyricist
    (Season 3, Episode 4, Recorded July 10, 2012)
    Hamilton Dramaturgy’s TheatreNow! Interview with Maria Alexandria Beech

    Maria Alexandria Beech is a playwright and librettist living in New York. She has written over fifteen full-length plays, several as a member of the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages Theatre, which co-produced her play LITTLE MONSTERS at Brandeis Theatre Company. Her full-length musical titled CLASS, with Karl Michael Johnson, was presented in a reading in May, 2012 at NYU.

    Hamilton Dramaturgy’s TheatreNow! is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the purposes of Hamilton Dramaturgy’s TheatreNow! must be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.



  • Natalie Pandya Joins Staff

    Welcome to Natalie Pandya, who joins our staff as the UK Program Assistant. I met Natalie through Dr. Roger Ainsworth, The Master of St. Catherine’s College, Oxford University. I studied the Philosophy of Aesthetics there as a visiting student while I was an undergraduate. St. Catz is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year. Natalie has completed research for the podcast on leading UK female theatre artists, and also on leading theatre training programs in the UK. We will approach the training programs to let them know about TheatreNow! this fall, and expand our audience overseas. Welcome, Natalie.

    Here is her bio:

    Natalie Pandya has just completed her degree at St Catherine’s
    College, Oxford, where she studied History. Whilst at University she
    produced a number of student-plays, interned at a production company
    and has since begun work her own a screenplay. Her interests include
    reading historical and historical fiction works and cinema. She is
    extremely excited to be a part of TheatreNow! and hopes to contribute
    much, with her passion and enthusiasm for the industry.



    TheatreNow! Podcast with Margo Jefferson

    Hamilton Dramaturgy’s TheatreNow! Is a podcast series featuring some of the most exciting women artists working in the theatre today.  Anne Hamilton is the producer and host.  You may listen to the podcasts and read the transcripts at http://hamiltondramaturgystheatrenow.com

    Interview with Margo Jefferson, Theatre and Cultural Critic

    (Season 3, Episode 3, Recorded June 26, 2012)

    Dowload the podcast here:

    Hamilton Dramaturgy’s TheatreNow! Podcast with Margo Jefferson

    Margo Jefferson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning cultural critic who wrote about books, theatre, and the arts for The New York Times for 13 years. Her writing has also appeared in Bookforum, Salon, The Nation, The Washington Post, New York Magazine, Vogue, and Newsweek, among other publications. Her book On Michael Jackson was published by Pantheon in 2005 and Vintage in 2006. And the essay she wrote on Michelle Obama, “Movin’ On Up”, was published in Best African American Essays: 2010. She also wrote and performed SIXTY MINUTES IN NEGROLAND at The Cherry Lane Theater and The Culture Project.

    Download the transcript here:

    Hamilton Dramaturgy’s TheatreNow! Interview with Margo Jefferson

    Hamilton Dramaturgy’s TheatreNow! is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the purposes of Hamilton Dramaturgy’s TheatreNow! must be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.