Written by seven indigenous playwrights, from nine North American First Nations, Mixed Blood Theatre’s world-premiere production Red Ink explores the issues of contemporary Native life. Red Ink runs April 23 through May 10 at Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis. Purchase tickets at 612.338.6131 or visit www.mixedblood.com. Price run $11-$30, discounts are available for students, seniors, and groups of 10 or more. All performances are at the Mixed Blood Theatre, located at 1501 S. Fourth Street in Minneapolis.
Red Ink is a play within a powwow, written as a series of short scenes that explore many aspects of the Native American experience, from casinos and native art to reality television shows. The play explores a side of the Native American experience that is rarely brought to the stage. Commissioned by Mixed Blood Theatre, the writers of Red Ink have been working on the piece for three years, this will be its first production.
Rhiana Yazzie (Lead Playwright for Red Ink) is a writer and director living in St. Paul, Minnesota whose award-winning work has been seen nationwide. She received her B.A. in Theatre, Dramatic Writing from the University of New Mexico and a Master of Professional Writing in Playwriting from the University of Southern California. Her play Wild Horses was commissioned by the Native Voices Theatre at the Museum of the American West in L.A. in 2005, and premiered at Kennedy Center New Visions/New Voices Theatre for Young Audiences National Festival in Washington, D.C. in 2006. Other works include This Land Had Seen War Before (2006), THE Best Place to Grow Pumpkins (2006), Asdzani Shash: The Woman Who Turned into a Bear (2006), Transplants: Two Monologues and a Scene for Native American Teens (2005), L.A. Arrimada (2005), The Long Flight (2004 Princess Grace Award finalist), among others. She has also written screenplays and won awards from the Jerome Foundation/Playwright’s Center, Urban Ink Productions Fathom Labs, and the James Irvine Foundation. Along with directing (primarily in Los Angeles),she has taught and served as a mentor.
Diane Glancy: a Professor at Macalester College in St. Paul, where she has taught Native American Literature and Creative Writing in poetry, fiction, nonfiction and scriptwriting. She has published two books of plays and her plays appear in anthologies such as Contemporary Plays by Women of Color, Great Scenes from Minority Playwrights and Stories of Our Way.
Tomson Highway is an openly gay playwright, storyteller and novelist from Manitoba. His plays include The Rez Sisters, Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing (both of which won Dora Mavor Moore Awards), and the musical Rose. He has also written a novel (Kiss of the Fur Queen) and has been a member of the Native Earth Performing Arts Company in Toronto.
Yvette Nolan: a resident of Toronto, Ontario, she is a playwright, director, actor, dramaturg, and theatre educator. She is the Artistic Director of Native Earth Performing Arts in Toronto. Her plays and other writings have been published in Canada and internationally.
Darren Renville is a South Dakota native and author of short stories, novels, plays and screenplays (including Dakota Exile, broadcast on Twin Cities Public Television). He currently teaches a class on Native American imagery in literature and film at the Institute for Dakota Studies at the Sisseton Wahpeton Community College. He maintains “The Dakota Language Homepage” Web site, and is a member of the Oak Lake Writers Society of Dakota/Lakota writers.
Arigon Starr: an enrolled member of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma, she is a musician and writer who has released four award-winning CD projects including Meet the Diva, Wind-Up, Backflip and her original comedy with music, The Red Road – Original Cast Recording.
Drew Hayden Taylor is a Canadian playwright, screenwriter and novelist. He has written, directed or worked on 17 films and documentaries about Native issues and worked for a time as a journalist reporting on Native Affairs. He served as Artistic Director of the Native Earth Performing Arts Company 1994-1997. There have been over 60 professional productions of his plays in the past 15 years, and his scripts have received numerous awards.
The Mixed Blood Theatre Company, founded 31 years ago by artistic director Jack Reuler, is dedicated to the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream. The professional, multi-racial company promotes cultural pluralism, individual equality and artistic excellence in its main stage, touring and customized corporate productions.
