Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program Announces Summer Programs For Native Writers

This summer The Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program (YIPAP) will be hosting a series of free online programming for Native writers.

YIPAP is offering two playwriting workshops that will be taught by award-winning Native playwrights Vera Starbard (Tlingit) and Tara Moses (Seminole). Each will be free and open to the public and are scheduled for Wednesdays July 22nd and August 5th at 7 PM EST (3PM Alaska, 4PM PST, 5 PM MT, 6 PM CT).

These workshops will offer tools and guidance for first-time as well as experienced Native playwrights.

Until there are voices and stories from every Native nation represented onstage, YIPAP's work will remain. "We want to hear your stories! Come write in community with us. This is a great opportunity to really flex, grow, and experiment as a playwright by taking one or both workshops from these fantastic artists!"

YIPAP has also launched a summer monologue writing competition for Native Youth, 25 and under. The writers of the two top monologues will each receive a $100 prize and the option to either perform their work as part of a special online event, or have a professional Native actor perform their work, subject to their preference. The deadline for Monologue submissions is July 25th.

For more information about the contest and information on how to submit please visit: https://yipap.yale.edu/news/call-submissions-monologue-writing-competition

The playwriting workshops are open to all ages and you do not need to be a Yale student to participate. Please email madeline.sayet@yale.edu to reserve a spot in either one or both classes. Attendees will receive a zoom link for the event after registering. Please feel free to also reach out to madeline.sayet@yale.edu with any questions!

The Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program (YIPAP) works to promote and cultivate indigenous storytelling and performance to further authentic representation at Yale and in Indian Country. Our core values are Performance, Research, Academics, and Outreach in an effort to bare the importance of indigenous storytelling and help develop a space for Native performers in all capacities.

Vera Starbard, T'set Kwei, is a Tlingit and Dena'ina writer and editor. She was born on Prince of Wales Island, and grew up all over Alaska. She is Playwright-in-Residence at Perseverance Theatre through the Andrew W. Mellon National Playwright Residency Program, Editor of First Alaskans Magazine, and writer for the PBS Kids children's program "Molly of Denali," which recently won a Peabody Award. https://verastarbard.com/about/

Tara Moses (she/her) is a citizen of Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, director, playwright, Artistic Director of telatúlsa, and co-founder of Groundwater Arts. As a playwright, her completed works include Sections, He'eo'o (Winner of the 2019 Native Storytellers Contest), Quantum (2020 Finalist for the National Playwrights Conference), Bound, the adaptation of Hamlet: El Príncipe de Denmark, Don Juan, and Arbeka. She is a 2020 Cultural Capital Fellow with First Peoples Fund; fellow with the Intercultural Leadership Institute (18/19); member of DirectorsLabChicago (2018); member of the Directors Lab at Lincoln Center (2017); recipient of the Thomas C. Fichandler Award (2016); associate member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society; and Dramatists Guild member. www.taramoses.com

Submissions for YIPAP's 6th Annual Young Native Storytellers Contest, which provides a Native Playwright Under 25 with a play development opportunity at Yale each year, will open this Fall.

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