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New Native Theatre Starts Second Week of Good Medicine Festival
Monday, December 7, 2020
Source: New Native Theatre
newnativetheatre.org

• TICKETS: Good Medicine Festival

New Native Theatre opened its Fourth Annual Play Festival: Good Medicine on Thursday night, December 3rd.

The ten-day online festival will continue each day through December 13th, featuring Native American, First Nations, Māori, and Sámi artists from all around the world. The festival’s theme centers around Good Medicine, (inspired by Yvette Nolan’s book Medicine Shows that describes the importance of medicine in Native theatre) and Indigenous Futurism where Indigenous peoples reclaim and reframe their stories and imagine a vibrant future.

Upcoming plays include Ice Man the Frozen Protector by Red Lake Ojibwe playwright Zane (Tyrisah) Smith, The Great Return by northern Minnesota Ojibwe playwright, Lara Gerhardson. International performances include New Zealand’s Turango Collective, a Maori indigenous health and wellness company, Asa Simma of Giron Sami Teáhter in Sweden and Australian First Nations dancer Suri Bin Saad.

newnativetheater
Clockwise, from top: Milly Grant-Koria, Sermsah Bin Saad, Dakota Camacho, Asa Simma. Photos courtesy New Native Theater

There are also performances by well-known North American First Nations artists such as acclaimed actor, Gary Farmer and dancer Dakota Alcantara-Camacho. The festival will culminate with live music from Twin Cities based rock-band, The Pretendians. There will also be talkbacks and conversations after the shows.

Thursday night opened with Poetry Night with performances by Miriam Mosqueda (Chichimeca Guamare), Carey J Flack (Black/Mvskoke Creek/Cherokee Freedmen/Choctaw Freedmen kinship ties), Robyn Katona (Cree), and Cyndi Bergloff (Grand Traverse band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Thunderbird clan), followed by a conversation with playwright Yvette Nolan (Algonquin). Friday night included a performance from Ilbijerri Youth Ensemble (Melbourne-based First Nations) and the play “Don’t Put Your Moccasins Under Your Pillow” by Lini Wilkins (Diné) with Keir Shun (Diné), Owee Rae (Diné), and Ernest Tsosie (Diné) as part of the cast.

Weekend shows included “Where Did All The Colorful Feathers Go?” by Rebekah Crisanta de Ybarra (Maya Lenka) in collaboration with Xilam Balam Ybarra and Storytelling Sunday with Fern Renville (Dahkota) and Roger Fernandes (Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe).

Audiences can attend the festival live and can sign up via Eventbrite which is linked on their website. Tickets are pay-what-you-can per show or the suggested price of $20 per show. There is also a $60 Festival Pass to access all shows and recorded content until December 31, 2020.

To see the full schedule and the list of performances, visit our website. Audiences can actively support New Native Theatre to break down stereotypes and tell stories with authentic Native voices at newnativetheatre.org.

New Native Theatre is a new way of thinking about, looking at, and creating authentic Native American stories for the stage. Based in the Twin Cities, it is the only and longest running professional Native American theatre company in the Upper Midwest focusing exclusively on Native American playwrights, actors, and directors. For more details or questions, please email at info@newnativetheatre.org. Visit newnativetheatre.org for details.
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