Anishinabe Playwright: 2008-05-18

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Spirit in the House

Spirit in the House

Stands Alone
curated by Marcie Rendon, Raving Native Productions

Featuring:
Kohl Miner: The SemiConscious Memoirs of a Negligent Native
and!

Sigwan Rendon and Kohl Miner in: Borders Uncrossed
the uncut opening of Borders Uncrossed
the US/Mexican border from a Native perspective

5:30pm May 24 - Saturday - Kohl, Sigwan and Kohl
7pm May 25 - Sunday - Kohl, Sigwan and Kohl

Thursday, May 29, 5:30 PM - Kohl Miner and Amy Salloway
Friday, May 30, 7:00 PM - Kohl, Sigwan and Kohl
Saturday, May 31, 2:30 PM - Kohl, Sigwan and Kohl

at: Spirit in the House
The Art Gallery (upstairs in the church)
Hennipen Ave Methodist Church
511 Groveland Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55403

$12 adults, $10 Student and Senior
$8 kids under 12. Available at the door

The Cost of Silence

The Cost of Silence

I am writing this letter as an apology to people who have migrated here from Mexico, Central America and South America. I am Anishinabe, Indigenous to what is now called Minnesota. I am also a playwright. Within the last year I was approached by a production company, OffLeash Area, to write a play with them called Border Crossing. It was my understanding this play would address the inhumane issues people confront when entering the United States.

As a Native American, I am interested in the stories of the indigenous people of this continent we call Turtle Island and the peoples of what is now known as South America. I am interested in the impact the building of the wall between Mexico and the United States has on Native Nations whose reservations created by the United States straddle this man-made border, also made by the United States. That is part of the story I had hoped to tell. In November 07, I did research for a week in the Sonora desert southwest of Tucson on the Tohono O'odham Reservation. I had hoped to include a very strong voice for Indigenous people in this piece. I had hoped to include a very strong voice for Migrant people in this piece.

In my interviews with people I heard stories of inhumane treatment. I heard stories of a sea of sorrow – a desert littered with the bones of people trying to get here for a better future for themselves and for their future generations. I heard stories of joy, hope, survival and celebration.

I am writing this apology because this is not the story that is being told in Border Crossing. It is not your story and your voice has been removed from the piece. I wrote dialogue for native peoples. That dialogue was cut. I wrote dialogue for the characters crossing the desert. That dialogue was cut. I argued to give voice to the oppressed. My voice was silenced. I am sorry. I understand any anger on your part where you would question why I, as a Native American, would have thought that I could tell your story.

If you have questions or comments to me, I am open to dialogue.

Miigwitch

Marcie Rendon, Anishinabe Playwright

MRendon703@aol.com

Anishinabe Playwright

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Spirit in the House

Adventures at Camp KaKeeKwaSha and the Magic Musky Casino

Quillwork on Birchbark by Juanita Blackhawk

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Spirit in the House

Spirit in the House

across the continents painting by Alicia Siu, el salvadorian

the terrain to cross

Sonora Desert

rez basketball court

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The Cost of Silence