Borderlands Theater to Present SHOOTING COLUMBUS
By: BWW News Desk Mar. 09, 2017
THE PLAY
Shooting Columbus is an immersive site-specific performance set at La Pilita Cultural Center, in which the audience walks through the space and encounters theater, performance and video installations. The work examines the consequences of time travel and the current resistance of Native people in the face of continual oppression by the United States government. Created and devised by Fifth World Collective, a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists from the state of Arizona, the show presents poetic imaginings of a radically different past to foster dialogue about a radically different future. A central question this project asks is, "How would your life be different if Christopher Columbus had been assassinated?"
INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOLS AS A FRAMEWORK FOR PERFORMANCE
The performance itself lives within a universe of an Indian boarding school reminiscent of one of over 3,000 created by the U.S. government between 1800s through the 1950s. These schools were established across the country as one of the most systematic government-sponsored attempts assimilate Native people. Upon entering the schools, Indigenous children were forced to cut their long braids and punished if they spoke their mother tongue. In Shooting Columbus, the audience experiences multiple school rooms that have splintered off from the moment Columbus' assassination: some are spaces of healing, learning and empowerment, while others attempt to erase Indigenous culture, leading to their disenfranchisement.
RESEARCH LEADS TO POETIC REIMAGINGS IN PLAY
For the past three years, the Collective has researched issues affecting Indigenous communities in the Southwest. They interviewed community members who described how the U.S.-Mexico created an arbitrary line through Tohono O'Odham and the Yaqui (Yoeme) nations, making it difficult to travel for tribal ceremony. The Collective also met with Fern Benally (Diné) near her family's home in Kayenta, an area in northeastern Arizona ravaged by the Peabody Coal mines. The Diné that chose to remain there live without paved roads, electricity or running water - water must be hauled in by truck. Coal from this mine is transported to the Navajo Generating Station, which creates power for the filtration and transport of drinking water to Phoenix, Tucson and other cities in the region. Another interviewee, Marie Gladue, welcomed the group to her familial hogan, a traditional hexagonal Diné home on Black Mesa. There she described her family's history of decades of resistance against forced relocation of Diné from their land, and the importance of remembering and passing down one's Indigenous language. Other interviewees include Ross Benally (Diné) who provided first-hand accounts of his boarding school experience. Text and video excerpts appear throughout the production as poetic retelling of these testimonies.
HOW THE COLLECTIVE AND PROJECT CAME TOGETHER
The original work springs from a play penned by Denise Uyehara over 20 years ago, a play she chose not to release publically. Three years ago she began working with a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists from the Southwest region to deconstruct the script and create an entirely new narrative. This group eventually became The Fifth World Collective. These include b-boy and traditional grass dancer Ryan Pinto (Hopi, Omaha, Northern Ute), actor T Loving (Black, Cherokee), director and ASU professor Rachel Bowditch (European American), sound/video artist Adam Cooper-Terán (Yaqui, Chicano) and Uyehara (Okianwan, Japanese American). An early collaborator in the project, activist and musician Klee Benally (Diné), introduced the group to community members and scholars, and helped in early discussion about cultural appropriation.
Lead artists held multiple devising retreats at the Global Justice Center in Tucson, Arizona State University, Tempe, and Outta Your Backpack Media, Flagstaff. They created performance "jam" sessions that incorporated soundscapes, music, text, projections, movement into a unique approach into re-imagining history and memory. Together they activate a rich poetic landscape that incites community dialogue and debate of a radically different past to foster dialogue about a radically different future.
CURRENT DAY STRUGGLES
The Water Protectors at Standing Rock illustrate the on-going struggles of Indigenous communities to save their sacred sites and resources from the brutal policies of the U.S. government and private corporations. In addition, the current presidential administration's plans to build a new border wall, has a real and devastating impact on the Tohono O'odham community. These struggles are not historically bound, but continue to impact Indigenous communities on a daily basis. Shooting Columbus attempts to bring these concerns to light.
MORE ON THE PLAYWRIGHT/DRAMATURG
Denise Uyehara is a performance artist and playwright whose work has been presented in London, Helsinki, Tokyo and across the United States. She penned the script for Shooting Columbus over twenty years ago, but set it aside until she could invite artists from the Southwest region to help her deconstruct the play and create a completely new performance. As with all her work, she explores individual and collective memory and what marks the body as it crosses borders of identity. Uyehara has received support from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, the Asian Arts Council, and the MAP Fund with Jason Aragón/Pan Left Productions to create Dreams and Silhouettes/Suenos y siluetas in collaboration with local Tucson artists. She currently collaborates with James Luna (Luiseno) and was a founding member of the Sacred Naked Nature Girls, a culturally diverse performance collective. She is a frequent university lecturer. He book, Maps of City & Body, documents her earlier work (Kaya Press). More info: www.deniseuyehara.com
MORE ON THE DIRECTOR:
Rachel Bowditch (Director), MA/PhD is the Head of the MFA in Performance and an Associate Professor in the School of Film, Dance, and Theatre in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University. She has directed at the Denver Center, Mixed Blood (MN), Northwest Children's Theatre (Portland), Childsplay, and HERE Performing Arts Center (NYC). Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Wall Street Journal, Theatre Journal, Newsweek, American Theatre, The Sun (NYC), The Village Voice, Time Out New York, Live Design, and Arizona Republic among other publications. She is the artistic director of Vessel. www.rachelbowditch.com / www.vesselproject.org
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE AND TICKET INFORMATION
La Pilita Museum 420 S Main Ave. Tucson AZ 85701.Tickets: $7-$26 with various discounts. Persons indigenous to the Americas may call box office to reserve free admission, space limited.
3/29 - 7:30 pm Preview (HALF OFF All tickets $7/$12!)
3/30- 7:30 pm Opening Night Gala: With light refreshments plus meet and greet the collective. ($26/$14)
3/31 - 7:30 pm ($14/$19.50/$23.50)
4/1 - 7:30 pm ($14/$19.50/$23.50)
4/5 - 7:30 pm ($14/$19.50/$23.50)
4/6 - 7:30 pm ($14/$19.50/$23.50)
4/7 - 7:30 pm ($14/$19.50/$23.50)
4/8- 7:30 pm ($14/$19.50/$23.50)
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO PURCHASE ADVANCE TICKETS:
PLEASE CONTACT BORDERLANDS THEATER BOX OFFICE AT (520) 882-7406.
In person at 151 S Granada, TUCSON 85701.
ORDER TICKETS ONLINE: www.borderlandstheater.org
Photo credit: Alethea Do
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