Between Worlds - Transcript
[Francene Blythe]
And I’m the corner and you know, and—and use the sculpture. My name is Francene Blythe. I am half Navajo, a quarter Cissident-Sioux and a quarter Eastern Band Cherokee. (chanting) I am an urban Indian caught between two cultures and not accepted by either one. On the Reservation, I was called an apple. Red on the outside, white on the inside. As a child, I loved to play dress-up and act out fantasies. As an adult, I hope to use these experiences in theater to help my people. For my graduate project, I wanted to do a play that would benefit my people. I went to the elders and asked what kind of play I should do. They wanted a contemporary play. So I chose An Evening at the War Bonnet. It is a modern play, written by an Anida tribal member, Bruce Keen. It speaks to the message I want people to hear. An Evening at the War Bonnet is a play about four urban Indians who gather at a bar to bare their souls about their life choices after leaving the Reservation. The play features a young girl who is abused and ran away from the Pueblo to go to the big city. A Vietnam vet who never returned to the Reservation when he came back from the war. An activist, who denied being Indian, until she got involved with the American Indian Movement. And a half-breed, who never belonged to the Indian culture and the community. The play epitomizes the choices they face.
I chose this play because it talks about right now. And it talks about urban Indians more than anybody else. (chanting) Um and I think that our voice, urban Indians, hasn’t been heard.
In the city, it is not easy to practice the ways of my people. There are few medicine men, sweat lodges, and community ceremonies or dances. For that, I must travel to the Reservation. This is one part of the struggle of the urban Indian, a choice between two worlds that are worlds apart.
I love the theater because it gives people a chance to experience and to learn. I decided to use community members and students, Native Americans, non-Native Americans, Native Americans from different tribes for the cast and crew. They learned from the experience of performance. They gained an understanding of who they are and where they come from.
[Cassie Rhodes-Carroll]
The Native American people are great story-tellers. But it usually has been oral. Now this is a way of conveying it on a more visual level and I think this is fantastic.
[Richard Barea]
As long as you put something out there. You know, make people aware. And—and this is a good medium for that. We can uh put that out there and have people think, you know, because a lot of people aren’t uh involved with Indians. They don’t know what uh being Indian is about. You know, uh they don’t even know we exist here.
[Francene Blythe]
I understand where I come from. I know my roots. And I have pride in that. That—that will educate the non-Indian population of being an Indian is not romantic. Hasn’t been. Is a struggle still. And that we have problems understanding ourselves so we maybe won’t hear the question: “What’s it like to be Indian?” “Do you do Indian dancing?” “Can you speak your language?” And that’s what I hope non-Indian people get out of it is that education of we sometimes don’t understand ourselves.
I wanted to reach beyond the box and develop something unique and innovative while giving back to my community. With this play, I’ve done that. We’ve been asked to do this play at several cultural events and on reservations. A cast and crew achieved my dream. They conveyed the message I wanted people to hear.
As a first-time director in doing this project, I’m very happy. I’m very happy and I’m very proud. (drumming and chanting)
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