Bronitsky and Associates Blog

I’m blogging from the airport in Luleå, Sweden, where it’s raining and we still have four hours before our flight to Stockholm!  I had my doubts about whether we’d actually arrive in Sweden after our flight to Philadelphia was cancelled and we arrived in Sweden a day late,  but we did get here, and it has been wonderful.  In some ways, it all began in London in 2007 at the ORIGINS™ launch–I got funding for myself and David Velarde, and Sami playwright and director Harriet Nordlund was there too.  And now we’re all together again. 

It was great seeing Harriet again and it will be a delight to tour her to Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Carolina in October.  I finally met many people who have been on my mailing list and who were eager to see me. 

Harriet Nordlund and David Velarde at Sami
playwrights conference, Övertorneå, Sweden

Haukur Gunnarson (Sami theater), Harriet Nordlund,
Gordon Bronitsky

David Velarde’s presentation on his theater and family and community were very well received, with many questions and much discussion afterwards.

David Velarde speaking to the Sami playwrights conference

Haukur Gunnarson (Sami theater) and David Velarde

It really has been the land of the midnight sun here, or, given the overcast skies, the land of the midnight clouds–no sunrise or sunset, just a slightly softer tone to the light.  The land here is a seemingly endless panoply of forests and rivers, with wildflowers in bloom everywhere.  I can definitely understand why Scandinavians came to the upper Midwest and did so well in the timber industry.  It must have seemed just like home. 

Torndal River, border between Sweden and Finland, 11:30 pm

I even made it to the Arctic Circle!  We’re right on the border with Finland and one of our hosts drive us about 10 miles to the Arctic Circle marker and, of course, the gift shop.  It was great fun getting our pictures taken and shopping.

Gordon at the Arctic Circle, Finland

David Velarde at the Arctic Circle, Finland

We took an excursion to a nearby town to see a rehearsal for a local opera.  I didn’t understand the words but I liked the music.  For the conference attendees, the big hit of the excursion was a visit to a huge Ikea store.  Ikea originated in Sweden and evidently this is one of the largest in the world, as people come here from Norway, Finland and Russia to shop.  It’s incredible, especially when one of our hosts pointed out that people who came here from far away usually rent large wheeled clamshells, come here and fill them to bursting with Ikea products.  Talk about shop til you drop!

It’s just a pity that we won’t be able to see Stockholm.  Coming here, we went straight from our flight to Stockholm to the plane for Lulea, and now we’ll get into Stockholm at 11 tonight and leave at 1 pm tomorrow afternoon.  Alas!

Tuesday, I’m off to Sweden with David Velarde, a playwright and alumnus of the Institute of American Indian Arts (AA) and the University of New Mexico (MFA).  He is the great-great-great grandson of Huero Mundo, a hereditary chief  of the Jicarilla Apache Nation who went to Washington of behalf of his people and helped secure a homeland for the Jicarilla Apache. His latest play is titled Dakwe Nasya ( He went away and came back) which is about the wrongful incarceration of James Harry Reyos who was falsely convicted of murdering Father Patrick Ryan.

David Velarde

He will participate in a Sami playwrights workshop in Övertorneå, Sweden, June 9-15, under the auspices of the Beaivvas Sami Theatre in Kautokeino, Norway.  The Sámi people  are the indigenous people of northern Europe inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. Their ancestral lands span an area the size of Sweden in the Nordic countries. The Sámi people are among the largest indigenous ethnic groups in Europe. 

It should be a great experience for all of us. I’ve been googling Övertorneå to find out more about the area. At this time of the year, it’s definitely the Land of the Midnight Sun—today there were only 25 minutes of night! That’s definitely going to be a new experience for me! It’s on the Arctic circle so I really want my picture taken at the Arctic Circle sign.

Mr. Velarde’s participation is part of ORIGINS on the Road™, developed and produced by Gordon Bronitsky to bring Indigenous theatermakers to Indigenous and non-Indigenous theaters and communities around the world.  Previous tours included Australian Aboriginal playwright David Milroy’s tour to the US in 2008.  Future tours for ORIGINS on the Road™ include US tours by Sami actor, playwright and director Harriet Nordlund (2009) and Greenlandic playwright Laila Hansen (2010). Harriet and David also participated in the 2007 launch of ORIGINS™ in London—it will be great to see Harriet again.

The tour is sponsored by the United States embassy in Sweden.  I will be accompanying David as tour manager but I’ll also be meeting with Sami artists and organizations about the Arctic Peoples Festival we want to coproduce with an Arctic Indigenous organization as partner.