Bronitsky and Associates Blog

We knew it would take time to create ORIGINS™ and we wanted to keep the momentum going, so we developed the concept of ORIGINS on the Road™, which would bring Indigenous theatermakers from around the world to Indigenous and non-Indigenous theaters and communities around the world.  It would be relatively inexpensive to tour someone from one country to another but would enable us to begin to create the ORIGINS™ vision and give us a track record as well.  

I’ve been trying to remember how David Milroy became the first to go on the road for ORIGINS™, but I  just can’t–did he volunteer?  was he pushed?  Can’t remember.  But I decided I would tour David Milroy to the US in 2008.  And what a wonderful, fun, exciting, educational experience that turned out to be!  Contacting universities and tribal colleges across the US, soliciting funds from whomever would listen, I was able to bring David to the US in September 2008 for a 20 day road trip that Kerouac and the Beats would have loved.  University of Minnesota, Sinte Gleska University (South Dakota), Oglala Lakota College (South Dakota), Little Wound School (South Dakota), Fort Berthold Community College (North Dakota), the University of Kansas, and Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas–thousands of miles by car, workshops and presentations on David’s life and people and theater for university playwriting students and 8th graders, for tribal audiences and theater folk, Mount Rushmore and Jewel Cave National Monument and so much more.  An honoring powwow at Little Wound School, public thanks (and an exchange of a beaded Western hat and David’s Aussie hat) from the Chairman and Tribal Council of the Federated Tribes of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara at Fort Berthold, wide-ranging discussions about life and theater and jokes and sightseeing — it was an experience that I know I’ll always cherish.   

David Milroy on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation, South Dakota

And with this under our belt, I knew that somehow we could make ORIGINS™ happen.  And now it has–hope to see many of you in London May 4-17.  Check out the website, www.originsfestival.com.  And if you agree with us about the importance of Indigenous theater and listening to Native voices, I urge you to listen to Michael Walling too and BUY TICKETS!

Thanks to everyone who made this happen, with a special shoutout to the Kellogg Foundation for believing in our vision, dreaming our dreams.  I leave for London Saturday and will be blogging from ORIGINS™–stay tuned! 

Michael Walling and David Velarde and I began to focus on an initial meeting of Indigenous playwrights.  London was the obvious choice.  The capital of the theater world, the heart of the colonial empire that had subjugated so many Indigenous peoples–where better than London to begin to hear Indigenous voices in theater?  Names were proposed, dates and places discussed by e-mail and phone.  

And finally in 2007, we had the ORIGINS™ launch, bringing the playwrights in the photo–David Velarde, David Milroy (Australia), Trevor Jamieson (Australia), Harriet Nordlund (the Sami side of Sweden, as she always says),  Rosanna Raymond, Michael Walling and myself.  A week of workshops and discussions and good times ensued, learning about each other and our communities and our work, funded by the Arts Council of Australia, the US embassy and others, capped off by a reception at the Australian High Commission in London (to whom I will always owe a debt of gratitude).  

We decided to embark on ORIGINS™ as an international festival of Indigenous theater from around the world–big dreams from a few people from many places gathered in London.  

ORIGINS launches May 4 as an international Indigenous performing arts festival.  I think this new blog will be a good way to let you know how it began over 11 years ago.  In 1998, I was living in Denver, Colorado, and saw a wonderful play, The Rez Sisters, by Canadian First Nations playwright Thomson Highway.  I asked the director of the venue when we could see more plays by Native playwrights.  He replied that his theater was now getting back to “serious theater”–no more Native plays or playwrights.  I was floored, angry and outraged.  

I began to look around.  There were very few opportunities for the public to see Native plays–a play here this year, a play in another state in a few years.  It was much easier to write a dissertation on Native playwrights than to see their work.  I thought was ridiculous.  

I began to think about how to create an annual event with excellent production values and wide-ranging publicity, and began to talk to many people.  Over the years, I became absolutely evangelical about my belief that Indigenous theater deserved an annual event all to itself.  Powwows and Native arts and crafts festivals certainly had annual events which showcased the best talent and drew large audiences.  Why not theater? 

Over the years, I must have heard every reason why such events couldn’t happen–no audiences, no playwrights (which I thought was a strange comment indeed), no Native theater companies, no money, no interested venues.  I started to despair. 

In 2003, Michelle Broun, then with the Arts Council of Western Australia, brought me to Perth to speak at the Western Australia Indigenous Arts Showcase.  It was a marvel of contemporary and traditional WA Indigenous talent–and it was there I met Michael Walling, the Artistic Director of Border Crossings (www.bordercrossings.org.uk).  

Border Crossings was and is a unique institution in its dedication to crosscultural performance.  Michael and I began to  explore the possibility of an Indigenous theater event, e-mailing each other over the next several years.  

In the course of many meetings about Indigenous theater in New Mexico, I met David Velarde, a Jicarilla Apache playwright.  The meetings went nowhere but I was impressed by his interest and determination, often driving 4 hours in each direction from his home town of Dulce in northwestern New Mexico for a meeting, and then driving back.  In 2005 I had the opportunity to create a Native playwright’s symposium in Edinburgh, Scotland.  David liked the idea very much and participated, funding his own travel.  This was my chance, I thought.  I was unable to go, but I gave David a concept paper for an Indigenous theater festival and urged him to meet with Michael Walling in London.  They did, and that eventually led to ORIGINS. 

I’m getting ready to head off to London Saturday–after 11 years of working and dreaming for an Indigenous theater festival!

Present at Creation:  The 2007 ORIGINS launch, London (l-r) Rosanna Raymond, Trevor Jamieson, Harriet Nordlund, David Milroy, Michael Walling, Gordon Bronitsky, David Velarde (kneeling).

Welcome to our blog. Please check back frequently for information about our activities. We look forward to hearing from you.

Gordon