2025 Macalester Native Play Festival

 

Aunty is a Verb by Lee Cataluna

Dance by Jasmine Rochelle Goodspeed 

Slow Your Roll by P.C. Verrone

Friends by Marcie Rendon 

​

Director, Casting, Native Community Liaison:

Ernest Briggs is a proud Anishinaabe director and actor who has worked for over 15+ years in film, stage and commercials. Ernest has directed or co-directed at Mixed Blood Theater, History Theatre, Nimbus Theatre, and Turtle Theater Collective. Ernest has also acted at the Guthrie Theater, Mixed Blood Theater, and Park Square Theater. Ernest received his M.F.A. in Acting from the University of Florida. In his spare time he spends time with his wife, 5 year old daughter and 3 year old son.

 

Actors

Kija Deer (Red Lake Ojibwe and Cherokee Nation)

She/Her. From the Cherokee and Red Lake Nations. Kija is an artist with a preference for painting and photography. She is passionate about speaking and sharing her Indigenous languages of Tsalagi and Ojibwemowin through daily conversation and her art. Kija enjoys spending time with her community. So if you’re in the south Minneapolis area you might see her around!

 

Melinda "Oogie Push" Pushetonequ (Meskwaki-Iowa) (she/her) is Bear Clan from the Meskwaki Nation near Tama, IA. She is currently living and creating in Dakota Territory, also known as the Twin Cities. She has been a theatre-maker for 20+ years. She is an actor, dancer, writer, storyteller, Meskwaki twine bag weaver, documentarian and a 2025 Native Artist-in-Residence at the MN Historical Society.

​

Nathaniel TwoBears (Ho-Chunk) is thrilled to be apart of the Macalester Native Play Festival! He’s been previously seen at the Guthrie Theater in For The People, A Christmas Carol, and the Tempest. He’s also most recently worked with New Native Theater in Fallenstar and Blood Quantum Physics

 

Adrienne Zimiga-January (Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe) (she/they) Adrienne has been performing in the Twin Cities for over a decade, working with various theater companies such as Turtle Theater Collective, An Opera Theatre, and the Guthrie Theater. She is a co-founder of Mni Giizhik Theatre Ensemble along with Sequoia Hauck and Sara Pillatzki-Warzeha. Mni Giizhik's purpose is to provide high-quality, vibrant, joyful Native theatre and foster the talents within our Native community in ethical, collaborative, and relational ways.

​​

Production Team:

Producer: Sam Aros-Mitchell (Texas Band of Yaqui Indians)

​

Artist Liaison, Event Coordinator, Dept. of Art and Art History, Macalester College: Lela Pierce

 

Logistics Coordinator, Event Space, & Macalester Community Engagement, Dept. of Theatre and Dance, Macalester College: Randy Reyes-

 

Campus and Partner Relations, Dean of Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship, Macalester College: Hui Wilcox

 

Acknowledgments:

This event is made possible by The Macalester Native and Indigenous (MNI) initiative with the Mellon Foundation

ASL services provided by Rosalina Estrada

Co-sponsored by Rosy Simas Danse

 

 

 

 

 

Event Program

 

Aunty is a Verb by Lee Cataluna (Kanaka Maoli)

Slow Your Roll by P.C. Verrone (Osage & Kiowa)

Friends by Marcie Rendon (White Earth Nation)

Dance by Jasmine Goodspeed (Hassanamisco Nipmuc)