Undermain Theatre Announces The 2021 Recipient Of The Katherine Owens/Undermain Theatre Fund for New Work

In commemoration of the birthdate of founding Artistic Director Katherine Owens, Undermain Theatre is pleased to announce the second commission of $10,000 from the Katherine Owens/ Undermain Fund for New Work. This year's commission is given to support the ongoing work, in the area of performance art, to Native American hybrid artist Gregg Deal. This commission is in honor of Katherine's appreciation of experimentation with theatrical performance forms and her interest in the art, culture and issues of indigenous peoples in America.

The Undermain is honored to welcome Mr. Deal, a Native American visual and performance artist and activist, who will close our 2022 Whither Goest Thou America Festival with his solo performance piece, The Punk Pan Indian Romantic Comedy, March 26th at 7:30 pm and March 27th at 2:00 pm. A selection of pieces from Mr. Deal's paintings and his work in other mediums will be on display as well.

Gregg Deal (Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe) is a provocative contemporary artist who challenges Western perceptions of Indigenous people, touching on issues of race, history, and stereotypes. Through his work-paintings, murals work, performance art, filmmaking and spoken word-Deal critically examines issues and tells stories of decolonization, modern representation and appropriation that are part of the Indigenous experience. Recently, a photograph of Deal was included in the December 2018 National Geographic Society Magazine article "Native Americans are Recasting Views of Indigenous Life." Deal was Native Arts Artist-in-Residence at Denver Art Museum in 2015-2016, Artist-In-Residence at UC Berkeley 2017-2018 and Mentor Artist in Residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in Fall 2021. His art has been exhibited nationally since 2002. Deal has lectured widely at prominent educational institutions and museums, including Denver Art Museum, Dartmouth College, Columbia University, and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. His television appearances include PBS's The Art District, The Daily Show and Totally Biased with Kamau Bell.

The funding will come from the Katherine Owens/Undermain Fund for New Work, which was established by her husband, Bruce DuBose, Producing Artistic Director, and Undermain's Board of Trustees in her honor in order to support the continuation of the work Katherine fostered during her 36 years as Undermain Theatre's founding Artistic Director.