North American Indian drama.

Format:

Database & Article Index

Website/Database

Contributor:

Alexander Street Press, issuing body.

University of Chicago

Rosengarten Family Fund.

Professor Elisabeth J. Tooker Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American drama--Indian authors--Databases.

American drama.

Canadian drama--Indian authors--Databases.

Canadian drama.

Indians of North America--Drama--Databases.

Indians of North America.

American drama--Indian authors.

Canadian drama--Indian authors.

Genre:

Electronic reference sources.

Online databases.

Databases.

Drama.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Began in 2006?

polychrome

Other Title:

INDR

North American Indian drama collection

Place of Publication:

[Alexandria, VA] : Alexander Street Press

System Details:

text file

Summary:

Full text of plays by American Indian, First Nation, and Pacific Islanders playwrights of the 20th century; information about the plays and their production, and biographical data. The collection begins in the early 1930s with The Cherokee Night and other works by R. Lynn Riggs, the first American Indian playwright to have his works produced. It progresses through the 20th century with plays produced by the Native American Theatre Ensemble (NATE) and other companies of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, including Spiderwoman Theater, the longest continually running Native American or womens theatre group in North America. The writing depicts traditional creation stories, oral histories, and rituals alongside modern issues such as tribal and individual searches for identity, life on and off the reservation, poverty and its accompanying struggles, political sovereignty and claims for self-determination, spirituality and connections to nature, and intercultural encounters and collisions. Many of the works serve as protest literature against deep suffering and dislocation, or they transcend protest to become universal testaments of survival, humor, and hope. More than half of the plays are previously unpublished, almost all are hard to find, and they represent a wealth of dramatic material that is often overlooked or inaccessible. Together, these plays demonstrate Native theaters diversity of tribal traditions and communities, approaches to drama, and individual experiences, but also reflect the commonality of the artistic drive of Native writers to give public voice to their own representations of themselves and their culture. The collection represents groups across the United States and Canada, including Cherokee, Métis, Creek, Choctaw, Pembina Chippewa, Ojibway, Lenape, Comanche, Cree, Navajo, Rappahannock, Hawaiian/Samoan and others. In addition, this release includes five issues of the Native Playwrights Newsletter, published by Dr. Paul Rathburn. The Native Playwrights Newsletter is quite simply the only resource of its kind, documenting contemporary Indian Drama through original essays, reviews, interviews, photographs, production histories, articles, and in some cases, even the plays themselves.

Notes:

Title history: North American Indian drama, <Apr. 5, 2007->

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on iteration viewed on Feb. 25, 2015; title from title banner (JPEG image).

Produced in collaboration with the University of Chicago.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Professor Elisabeth J. Tooker Fund.

Contains:

Container of: Stanlake, Christy, 1972- Introduction to the North American Indian drama collection.

Container of: Native playwrights' newsletter.

OCLC:

122411709

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.