The Alaska Native Heritage Center is seeking Alaska Native artists to join in a yearlong playwriting mentorship program. The Alaska Native Playwrights Project will "identify, train and nurture Alaska Native writers who wish to tell their stories and the stories of their people in theatrical form," according to a statement issued by the Heritage Center.
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More on the Alaska Native Playwrights Project
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The goal, said project director Ed Bourgeois, is to identify Alaska Native artists who are interested in learning the craft of playwriting and help walk them through the creation of their first script. It's an attempt to begin filling a void in the American dramatic canon, where Alaska Natives are barely represented.
"They're probably not produced in the mainstream as often as they'd like to be, but there are a lot of really high-quality Native playwrights, Native American playwrights, out there," Bourgeois said. "But there's not much in the repertoire that's Alaska Native."
The project is funded through a grant from the Ford Foundation that is, as Bourgeois describes it, something of a parting gift from the foundation's outgoing program officer for media, arts and culture, Betsy Theobald Richards, who is no longer with the Ford Foundation.
"Coming from a production background, I like to put things up on their feet, you know, up on stage," said Bourgeois, who was general manager of the Anchorage Opera before joining the Heritage Center. "But what (Richards) was most interested in ... as her closing chapter for theater giving, was to fund a project that would add something permanent to the canon of theater literature, particularly Native theater."
Applications for the project are due Oct. 5, after which the field will be narrowed to 10 participants. Each applicant is required to have a specific story in mind for the project, and the idea is to develop 10 "uniquely Alaska Native plays." The writers will attend a five-day writing intensive in Anchorage in January, during which they'll get what Bourgeois calls "a crash course" in writing for the stage.
"Obviously it doesn't replace going to school and getting a degree or spending four years, you know, really doing it right," Bourgeois said, "but for an artist who already has their own way of getting their voice out there, it's just taking that and gently redirecting it into a form that theater practitioners understand."
In the months following the January workshop, each participant will be mentored by a "teaching artist" -- an established Native American playwright who will help guide the writing and revision process. The scripts must be completed by Aug. 31.
Bourgeois said the Heritage Center is not yet ready to announce the names of the five teaching artists (each of whom will mentor two playwrights), but they will be established, nationally-prominent Native American playwrights. Participants will be expected to commit to the project's 10-month duration, and in addition to the January workshop and ongoing mentoring, they will receive a $500 stipend and, for artists traveling from outside Anchorage, travel, accommodations and food allowances.
The Heritage Center will work with Native Voices at the Autry, the Native American playwrights' initiative at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, to get the project off the ground.
"They're the preeminent developer of new Native works in the country," Bourgeois said. "So we brought them on board as consultants to help us through the process, because this is what they do all the time. They seek out Native playwrights, they have retreats and writing workshops, and they help them with their craft. They're at the forefront of developing Native playwrights."
Native Voices at the Autry will assist the Heritage Center with reaching out to applicants and securing readers and teaching artists.
Bourgeois has also approached Dawson Moore, coordinator of the annual Last Frontier Theatre Conference, and asked for his assistance. Moore said he was enthusiastic when Bourgeois first pitched him the idea.
"One of the things I think is exciting about this project is that it's not limiting itself to Native playwrights who already think of themselves as playwrights," Moore said.
A couple of works by Alaska Native playwrights have been well-received in recent years, Moore said, including "Ode to the Polar Bear" by Inupiat playwright Allison Warden, and last spring's "Time Immemorial," which Warden co-wrote with Yupik playwright Jack Dalton.
"I'd like to see more Native writers developing their craft," Moore said. "In the end, what it feels like Ed's wanting to provide with this is the resources and materials. What comes from it is going to be up to them."
The finished plays will be given a public reading in November 2010.
"That's just step one," Bourgeois said. "The first year is getting the first draft out there. Some might be produceable, some might need more work, some writers might be inspired to go to the next step and study playwriting."
The goal, he reiterated, is not to stage a performance, but to train participants in the craft of playwriting. A performance is temporary.
"When a piece is written, it's permanent," Bourgeois said. "It's forever. It's always there."
Contact Maia Nolan at maia@alaskadispatch.com