Project lead: Prof. Jen Shook (Assistant Professor of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies)
Vivero Fellow (Fall 2025): Isaiah Schlimm
Vivero Fellow (2024-2025): Regann Fishell
The primary goal of the Instead of Redface project is to provide a collection of materials to support informed teaching and learning about Indigenous performance, especially 19th century – 21st century theatre, within the borders of what is now known as the United States. Later iterations may have a larger scope and add different formats. In ’24-25, the Vivero Fellow worked on building a WordPress site through Reclaim Hosting. In fall ’25, I would like to explore some other platform and tool options, such as Mukurtu. An example of inspiration: HARK (Haudenosaunee Archive Resource and Knowledge) Portal. Depending on the fellow’s interests and goals, work might also include searching for existing materials about Native American playwrights and plays and perhaps creating/editing multimedia pieces.
Draft goals of the project long-term:
- Provide links to already-existing articles, videos, blogs, photos, audio, etc useful for college-level courses studying Native American plays and playwrights;
- Host such resources that need hosting with permission of creators;
- Connect with collections that contain performance history materials of productions;
- Connect to other conversations about supporting Native theatre and its study—for example, WikiEdu scholars’ projects, HowlRound digital commons, the Native American Women Playwrights’ Archive (NAWPA);
- Digitize and organize items such as the Native Playwrights’ Newsletter;
- Perhaps allow contributors to curate collections of materials (akin to the teaching space of the Colored Conventions Project and HowlRound Digital Commons);
- Encourage courses to create and contribute dramaturgical guides, production process materials, artist interviews, etc.
- Document related scholarly gatherings – I work with a collective of scholars who are hoping to host a symposium or series of meetings in upcoming years, either at NAPWA or elsewhere.
