Native Playwrights Alpha Listing
McCullogh, Mary Mullner
McDonald, Caren
McLeod, John (Mississaugi-Ojibway)
Diary of a Crazy Boy
First premiered at the Native Canadian Center, Toronto February 6, 1990. Produced by
Native Earth Performing Arts. Director: Tomson Highway & Rene Highway.
Mahto, Jamison C.
Blues for Franklin Avenue
Ó1995 by playwright.
Manuel, Vera (Shuswap-Kootenai)
The responsibility we hold in passing on these stories is to model a healthy lifestyle for our children, who are always watching us for direction. When we share our life stories, we must create a safe place for those who come to listen, in order not to hurt ourselves or others. Creator, I say thank you; and thank you Napika for this lesson. - Vera Manuel
The Strength of Indian Women
Drama in two acts. Casting 6 W 1 M voice, 1 girl voice.
Preparations for her Grand daughters coming of age, Suzette welcome her old friends and classmates who have come to honor and celebrate and find the time has also come to
speak of Residential school and how it has affected their lives.
First performed by Story teller Theatre at the Women in View Festival, Firehall Theater.
Director: Joyce Joe.
Published in Two Plays About Residential School: Ora Pro Nobis (Pray for Us) and Strength of Indian Women. Vancouver: Living Traditions Writers Group, 1998.
Martin, Rudy
The Card Game
The Gleaners
A one act opera, produced at the American Indian Community House, 1991.
Mason, Tina
Aweena Neena
Preformed by Awasikan Theatre, Winnipeg at the Winnipeg Fring Festival, 1991.
Mayo, Lisa (Kuna/Rappahannock)
I write to capture my fantasies and to use those fantasies as building blocks for a story that is already within me. - Lisa Mayo
Spiderwoman Theatre
The Pause That Refreshes
Medoff, Mark
Doing A Good One for the Red Man
Meinholtz, Rolland
Black Butterflies Journey to the Sun
The Sly Old Bag
Miguel, Gloria (Kuna/Rappahannock)
Im an actress
I realize the words
of others
These words are not enough
It leaves a hole in my
belly
As a woman, a native
woman
I survive by telling stories.
- Gloria Miguel
Spiderwoman Theatre
Miguel, Muriel (Kuna/Rappahannock)
I write to tell my innermost stories and to reach out. To knock on the hearts of native people (young, old, women, men). To tell them yes I have been there and Im still traveling.
- Muriel Miguel
Spiderwoman Theatre
Meares, Myrtle G.
Night in Cottonseed
Historical play set in 1890s, Oklahoma Indian territory. Three scenes which take play in one twenty-four hour time period.
Casting: 3 characters.
Submitted to the Five Civilized Tribes Museum: Playwriting Contest. Muskogee, Oklahoma, 1974.
Merasty, Billy
Fireweed: An Indigenous Fairy Tale
Produced by the Center for Indigenous Theatre, March 1998.
Miller, Gerald B.
The Changer: A Puget Sound Myth of the Coming of Man
Miller, Kathryn Schultz (Cherokee)
Young Cherokee
Minor, Kohl
Christopher Explained
Native Fruit
The Semi-Conscious Memories of a Negligent Native
Dreams of Cheerleading
The Trip
The Further Adventures of Christopher Explained
Stranger Abductions
Left at Life
Heartflight
Sylvia Plath Boulevard
Mojica, Monique (Kuna/Rappahannock)
Birdwoman and the Suffragettes: A Story of Sacajawea
A Radio play. Audiotape from CBS Production.
Princess Pocahontas and the Blue Spots
Published: Princess Pocahontas and the Blue Spots: Two Plays. Toronto, Womens Press, 1991.
Agent: Gary Goddard & Associates. 10 St. Mary Street, Suite 305. Toronto, Ontario M4Y 1P9. 416/928-0299.
Momaday, N. Scott (Kiowa/Cherokee)
The more I understand about storytelling, the more I realize that there is always a part of the story which leaves us wondering about this or that. Many things are not given us, and for the Western man this jars a little bit because we want to know. We expect to be told. We dont expect loose ends, and that is what you expect in a story. - N. Scott Momaday
Children of the Sun
The play is based upon an ancient Kiowa epic about twin heroes called the Talyi-dai, meaning boy medicine or half boys and their adventures as warriors and protectors of the Kiowa Tribe.
Commissioned by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Imagination Celebration, Children of the Sun was first performed in 1997. The Thunderbird Theatre at Haskell Indian Nations University, Lawrence, Kansas opened their season in January 1999 at the Lied Center, University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas and the play is part of Thunderbird Theatres touring productions.
The Indolent Boys
Moses, Daniel David (Delaware)
Brebeufs Ghost
Historic Epic in three acts. Casting: 5 W 11 M.
1649 brings bad news to Lake Nipissing, the Iroquois are on the warpath, killing Christians at Sainte Marie. Guess whos going to be next? The shamans worried about cannibals, the Black Robe about the fires of hell, worlds collide in this rich and strange epic of early Canada.
Coyote City: A Play in Two Acts.
Ó1988 Playwrights Union, Canada.
Drama in two acts. Casting 4 W 2 M
A ghost, a Coyote story and impossible love impel a reserve family into the depths of the Silver Dollar bar. A moving, funny, mysterious look at Native people moving into the city.
The Dreaming Beauty
Ó1990 Playwrights Union, Canada.
Dream play in one act. 3 W 1 M
Loosely based on Sleeping Beauty a dream play about the identity of a young woman who was,
Perhaps the embodiment of the Iroquoian people. Animal, vegetable, mineral and human spirits people this Iroquoian spin on the themes of the Sleeping Beauty. An allegory of the rebirth of Native Cultures.
First produced in 1990 by the Inner Stage, Toronto.
Big Buck City
Ó1990 Playwrights Union, Canada.
Farce in two acts. Casting 4 W 2 M. A house is possessed by the spirit of the season, but to the Bucks it doesnt look much like Christmas. A Native family meets city life and it turns into a farce that rides right off the edge.
First produced in 1991 by Cahoots Theatre Projects, Toronto.
Belle Fille de LAurore
Ó1991 Playwrights Union, Canada.
French version of The Dreaming Beauty
Almighty Voice and His Wife
Ó1992 Williams-Wallace Publishers
Drama in two acts. Casting 1 W 1 M.
A young Cree couple woo and wed, but its 1985, the generation after the Reil Rebellion. Its hard for any Indian to live happily ever after, unless one goes into show business. A retelling of historic incidents.
First produced in 1991 by The Great Canadian Theatre Company, Ottawa.
Kyotopolis
Ó1993 Playwrights Union, Canada
Fantasia in two acts. Casting 7 W 8 M.
Who was that woman we saw riding the space shuttle last night, riding it right into orbit, and the obituaries? An Indian Princess? A New Age Shamaness? Or just little Babe Fisher. Even her family isnt sure anymore. A darkly comic fantasy about the ways we communicate and the future of Native identity in the Global Village.
First produced a the University of Toronto, 1992.
City of Shadows
Ó1995 Playwrights Union, Canada.
A play of voices in one act. Casting 3 W 3 M.
Listen. On a street in a city in the land of shadows, on that reserve between waking and dreams, the ghosts of six urban Indians live their lives again. The stories they tell about love and its limits, about the city and hope make a music both familiar and strange, a poem, a prayer, a protest, a song of joy.
First produced at the University of Windsor, Ontario, 1998.
The Indian Medicine Shows
The Moon and Dead Indians
Review: "Daniel David Moses is a coroner of the theater who slices open the human heart to reveal the fear, hatred and love that have eaten away at it. His dark play can leave its audience shaking with emotion."
- Kate Taylor, The Globe & Mail
The Witch of Niagra
Fable in one act. Casting 4 W 4 M.
Theres a sickness in the village, one the trader promises to cure, if he can marry her, the sickly girl no one wants. Will she say yes or head her canoe over the falls into the arms of the Thunderer, the Iroquois god of cloud and rain? A re-telling of the story of the Maid of the Mist.
First produced by The Center for Indigenous Theatre, Toronto, 1998.
Agent: Christopher Banks and Associates, Patricia Ney, Torono (professional).
Playwrights Union of Canada (amateur)
Mosely, Denise (Cherokee)
Letters
Ó1996. Three acts. Casting: 12 W 4 M plus.
Nolan, Yvette (Algonquin)
Blade
Drama in one act. Casting 1 W.
Angela was a young university student who was killed by a hooker-killer; the media is painting her as a prostitute, over the protests of her friends and family. Now Angela wants to tell her story.
Jobs Wife
Drama in one act. Casting 1 F 1 M plus
Grace fearing for the life of her unborn child, calls out to God and he appears to her. She is surprised to discover that the God with whom she must negotiate her childs life is Native.
First produced by Theatre Projects, Manitoba.
Video
Comedy in one act. Casting 2 W 2 M.
Every day, right after Donahue, Jill puts on her wedding dress to watch the video of her wedding day. First produced by the
Nakai Theatre, Whitehorse, Yukon in 1997.
Losing My Tradition
Child
Dialogue in one act. Casting 2 W.
Monica is a young native woman who has survived incest. Monique is a young white woman with knowledge of that incest. A story of solidarity. First produced by Hardly Art, Winnipeg, 1994.
Annie Maes Movement
Drama in one act. Casting 1 F 1 M.
The story of Annie Mae Aquash, a Miqmak woman from Nova Scotia, who went to the U.S. to work with the American Indian Movement, and ended up dead. First produced in 1998 by
Hardy Art. Whitehorse, Yukon.
Two Steps Forward, One Look Back
A Marginal Man
Drama in two acts. Casting 2 W 2 M.
Adam works for the city. When his co-worker, Clair becomes a victim of domestic violence, Adam starts a white-ribbon campaign at work, only to find himself a target of violence.
Six Women
Everybodys Business
Drama in one act. Casting: 2 W 1 M plus 2 Musicians. Written with Margo Charlton, Brian Drader, Monique Marker and Nancy McKinnon. By turns fast, funny and sad, this series of vignettes looks at HIV?AIDS, from the myths and misconceptions to living with HIV?AIDS.
Donne In
Comedy in one act. Casting: 2 actors.
A despondent yuppie prepares to jump from the bridge. Then Max arrives. First produced by the Nakai Theatre, Whitehorse, Yukon, 1998.
Shakedown Shakespeare
Co-written with Phillip Adams
Comedy in one act. Casting 2 W 2 M. A fast and funny take on Four of the Bards Finest: Romeo & Juliet, King Lear, Macbeth and Hamlet. Introduces the stories, themes and language of Shakespeare to youngsters. First produced by the Nakai Theatre, Whitehorse, Yukon.
Northrup, Jim (Anishinabe)
Rez Road Follies
Oliva, Judy Lee (Chickasaw)
One the Showroom Floor
Two act play, 74 pages. Casting 4 W 1 M.
Face in the Mirror
One act, ten minutes 10 pages. Casting 2 W.
Park View Café
One act, 22 pages. Casting: 2 W 3 M.
Pasture
One page. Casting: 2 W.
Angels Light
Two acts, 104 pages. Casting 3 W 2 M.
The Crow on the Cradle
One act, 15 pages. Casting 2 W 1 M.
Mark of the Feather
One Act, 10 pages. Casting 2 W 1 M.
The Fire and the Rose
Two acts, 100 pages. Casting 3 W 3 M.
Te Ata
Two acts, 122 pages. Casting 5 W 2 M plus Chorus
Play is based on the life of Chickasaw Indian performer, Te Ata Fisher.
See Jane Run
1987 winner of the Agnes Nixon Playwriting Competition.
1988, presented at Northwestern University.
Mourning Dave
Play is based on 177 love letters written during WWII.
Dead Mice
Recalls the lives of two sisters growing up in Oklahoma.
Sidewalk Scenes
A childrens theatre piece.
Aunt Remas Debut
Tells the story of an older womans debut in a community theatre production and the reaction from her family and friends.
99 Cent Dreams
Tells the story of a womans search for the meaning of life.
Spirit Line
One act play retelling a Navajo Weavers legend.
Orloff, Katie
A Repeat for Ramona Stars
Play is taken from a novel by Helen Hunt Jackson.
Owens, Helen (Cherokee)
Sequoyah and the Little People
Historical play set in pre-removal of the Cherokee people from their homelands. Casting 12 characters. Submitted 1974 to the Five Civilized Tribes Museum: Playwriting Contest. Muskogee, Oklahoma.
Owens, Robert (Lakota)
Peters, Sandra Turner (Creek)
Moving Posey Fish
1992 submission to the Five Civilized Tribes Museum: Playwriting Contest. Muskogee, Oklahoma.
Pfenenger, Lynn Bravehart (Oglala Lakota)
Raindancer
Casting 4 W 4 M plus voice over. A story of healing and the endurance of the human spirit.
First presented November 9, 1995 at the IAIA Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Director: William S. Yellow Robe, Jr.
Phelps, George W. (Cherokee)
Children of the Four Winds
Two acts. Casting: 12 characters. Modern time an educational (culture/history) play for young people in two acts.
Black Drink Singer
1840s history play. Submitted to the Five Civilized Tribes Museum: Playwriting Contest, 1978.
Poitras, Evelyn
In Deo
Produced by Regina Cultural Arts Center during the World Assembly of First Nations.
Co-produced by the Federated College of Saskatchewan.
Poolaw, Lynda (Kiowa)
Skins
1973
Proffitt, Rebecca
The Good God Debate
A full length play first presented at the IAIA First Annual Playwriting Festival, April 13-16, 1994.
Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Reese, Liz (Pueblo)
I was fortunate to meet this talented young woman in the summer of 2000.
She represents our future and reminds us that nothing has been lost.
- Dianne Yeahquo Reyner
Birchbark House
One act. Casting 4 girls, 2 boys
Pucks Mistake
One act. Casting: 3 girls, 3 boys
The Trojan War
Nine acts. Casting 8 girls, 4 boys.
Rendon, Marcie R. (White Earth Anishinabe)
Songcatcher: Frances Densmore
Three acts, 73 pages. Casting: 5 W 3 M.
Odem Mukwa
Bring the Children Home
Two acts, 24 pages. Casting 3 W 5 M plus Chorus.
Outside In, Inside Out
Based on the life of Peg Wetli.
InnerCity Opera
A collaborative theater piece.
Free Fry Bread
Richards, E. Claude
Riggs, Rollie Lynn (Cherokee)
Big Lake: A Tragedy in Two Parts
The Year of the Pilar
A World Elsewhere
The Cream in the Well
Dark Encounter
Green Grow the Lilacs
Hang Onto Love: A Play in Two Acts
Knives of Syria: A Play in One Act
Roadside: A Comedy
Running Riot
Russet Mantle
Cherokee Night
Slumpn Like Wings
A Lantern To See By
Ross, Ian
fareWel
Comedic Drama in two acts. Casting 2 W 4 M.
When the welfare cheques go missing, the people of this fictional First Nation are forced to take control of their lives.
First produced in 1996 at Prairie Theatre Exchange, Winnipeg.
Heart Of A Distant Tribe
Produced by The Center for Indigenous Theater, May 1997.
Ruffo, Armand Garnet (Ojibwe)
Ghost Woman
A Windigo Tale
This play focuses on the trauma of residential school, sexual abuse and the potential for healing through cultural and spiritual restoration.
