Indigenous Theatre Symposium
*The event has already taken place on this date: Fri, 06/28/2024
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Geva Theatre in association with Friends of Ganondagan and NTID, and in affiliation with Native Voices presents a free, two-day event titled Embracing the Indian, Centering Indigenous Voices. Pre-registration is required for both events, and can be found here.
The Indigenous Theatre Symposium, at Geva Theatre, which begins with keynote remarks from Kaha:wi Dance Theatre Artistic Director and MUSH HOLE choreographer Santee Smith (Kahnyen'kehàka Nation, Turtle Clan). The daylong gathering also includes a screening of the film Unseen Tears: The Native American Boarding School Experience in Western New York - followed by a conversation about the film and the history and ongoing legacy of Indian residential schools with Pete Hill (Cayuga, Heron Clan) and Doug George-Kanentiio (Akwesasne Mohawk, Bear Clan). An Indigenous playwright’s panel will feature DeLanna Studi (Cherokee) and Vickie Ramirez (Tuscarora) - facilitated by Ansley Jemison (Seneca, Wolf Clan). The symposium will culminate with an introduction to Native Voices’ new international initiative created to inspire and support the next generation of Indigenous theatre artists. A light breakfast and boxed lunch will be served to all attendees of the Indigenous Theatre Symposium.
“This event, co-produced with Friends of Ganondagan, is not a beginning nor is it the apex of a growing collaborative relationship that now includes an affiliation with Native Voices and RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf,” says Rachel Y. DeGuzman, Associate Artistic Director/Director of Connectivity at Geva. “At the Embracing the Indian, Centering Indigenous Voices 2-day event, we will gather to experience Native centered art at NTID’s Panara Theatre with THE MUSH HOLE. And the next day hear perspectives from Indigenous creatives and thought leaders at the symposium. This is significant because we are co-building an inclusive community-rooted practice at Geva that will become even more expansive when we present PURE NATIVE next spring. There is no end point in sight.”
Indigenous Theatre Symposium | Friday, June 28, 2024, 8:30am – 4pm
Geva Theatre’s Fielding Stage/Lobby/Café
75 Woodbury Boulevard
Rochester NY, 14607
Breakfast and Lunch provided.
The Indigenous Theatre Symposium will feature keynote remarks from Santee Smith (Kahnyen’kehàka Nation, Turtle Clan), Artistic Director of Kaha:wi Dance Theatre; an Indigenous Playwrights Panel Conversation with creatives such as DeLanna Studi (Cherokee) who Geva audiences got to know through her play AND SO WE WALKED last season and who will be Geva Theatre’s 2024/26 Artist in Residence; a film screening of UNSEEN TEARS: as well as a special presentation about Young Native Playwrights –presented in collaboration with Native Voices.
The Indigenous Theatre Symposium project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. It will be live streamed in collaboration with HowlRound Theatre Commons.
ASL Interpretation will be provided
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