First Storytellers Festival at Dairy Arts Center

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Creative Nations, an all Indigenous Artists Collective founded at The Dairy Arts Center in Boulder, CO, will host its inaugural First Storyteller’s Festival (FSF) September 30th through October 6th. Composed of a collective of Indigenous artists, Creative Nations is working toward accurate representation of Native people. There is a strong focus on building community and providing opportunities, resources and platforms for emerging Indigenous artists of all ages and gender expression. The shows and writers chosen for the 2024 festival include:

• Tuesday Oct 1st: New Year’s Purun by Justin P. Lopez (Mapuche) “Come on, just one dance!” 16-year old Taiel just needs one successful Purun dance in order to fulfill his duty of becoming a traditional tribal healer... and finally getting the homophobic bullies at school off his back. Unfortunately, he can't seem to get the dance quite right. Helped by his cousin Aliwen and the ancestors, New Year’s Purun is a coming-of-age play about young Mapuche natives in urban Chile by Justin P. Lopez.
• Tuesday Oct. 1st: The Counting of the Heads by Steve Callahan (Osage) The Counting of the Heads is an Osage romance. Will and Annie love one another, but is that enough to keep an Osage man and a white woman together in Oklahoma in 1906? Will and his non-Native wife Annie have separated, leaving the enrollment status of their four children in question. Their unexpected reunion at the first Osage tribal census (“the counting of the heads”) in June, 1906 reignites their feelings for one another, but leaves open the question of a reconciliation. Steve Callahan has given us a realistic drama about passion, partnership, and parenthood, based on his own family history.
• Wednesday Oct. 2nd: Savage: The Unconquerable Wanda Savage with Book by Nicolette Blount (Chickasaw) and Lindel Hart and music & lyrics by Nicolette Blount. Savage: The Unconquerable Wanda Savage, a 2024 O’Neill Semifinalist, is a musical drama based on the life of Chickasaw sharpshooter and silent film actress, the unconquerable Wanda Savage  (Nicolette Blount’s great-grandmother). Savage unfolds the story of Wanda’s life and career as she navigates the conflicting worlds of Chickasaw tradition, Vaudeville, and silent era Hollywood. Forging a career as an independent, widowed, mixed-race single mother at a time when women had only begun to have a voice, Wanda refused to embrace the stereotypes assigned to her by society. Telling a story of survival, resistance and redemption through original music influenced by traditional jazz and blues mixed with a contemporary pop aesthetic, it is a story of a woman who is both modern and proudly Native.
• Saturday Oct. 5th: Embers Borne West by Maddox K. Pennington (Cherokee) Embers Borne West is a time-shifting tale about intergenerational resilience and identity, as two very different generations of a Cherokee family move to Los Angeles, in 1927 and in the present day. Wenona and Duke Jacobs leave their small Oklahoma hometown for Los Angeles in the 1920s hoping to find a better life, but Wenona confronts unexpected challenges to her Native identity in a highly segregated city. One hundred years later, Wenona’s non-binary “great-grand-something” Jay makes the same move and contends with identity issues of a different sort. Transcending time but connected by place, Jay and Wenona eavesdrop on each other to learn more about themselves and a family where the men are proud and the women are survivors. Maddox K. Pennington’s play explores the intergenerational resonance of migration, assimilation, culture, identity, and grief with affection and ironic humor.
• Saturday Oct. 5th: Pink Man or The Only Indian in the Room by Marty Strenczewilk (Ojibwe) “I’ve been stuck in the middle my entire life. I’m afraid to be red. But, I’m not just white, either. I guess I’m...pink. Pink Man.” Pink Man or The Only Indian in the Room follows a young Ojibwe on a semi-autobiographical, semi-realistic journey of self-discovery as he battles tradition, stereotypes, and himself. Mixed-blood and white-presenting, Pink Man deals with internal and external struggles over identity and heritage, always worried about how others see him. Guided by the Anishinaabe trickster Nanabozhoo, he grapples with expectations, self-doubt, and acceptance from other Native Americans in Marty Stenczewilk’s comedic hero’s journey. Pink Man utilizes Ojibwe storytelling traditions in a modern setting while humorously exposing the various ways Native culture has been distorted, erased, and rediscovered over time. FSF 2024 includes additional content beyond the staged works: Thursday Oct. 3rd: Voices of Change: First Storytellers, An Evening With Native American Playwrights This free public event contains a panel discussion with the playwrights whose work is part of the festival, discussing the challenges of telling stories as Native American writers. Saturday Oct. 5th: Dibaajimo (s/he tells, tells a story) Students and parents from Boulder Valley School District’s American Indian Parent’s Council will be showcasing the work they have been creating during a devised theatre workshop throughout the week of the festival. This free event will take place in the lobby of The Dairy Arts Center, so come join us for an original work created by the Boulder Native community. Native teaching artists will also be taking over the CU Boulder Theatre & Dance Department playwriting class for the week of the festival, teaching Native dramaturgy and how to create vibrant, strong Native characters in shows written by non-Native writers. Please visit https://www.creative-nations.org/first-storytellers-festival for tickets, schedule and more information.

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