Star Tribune
Meet the woman who founded a theater group to tell Native American stories to Native American audiences
Rhiana Yazzie launched New Native Theatre to tell Native stories primarily to Native audiences. And while NNT is based in the Twin Cities and has staged many productions in St. Paul, Yazzie’s work in theater frequently takes her across the country. Eye On St. Paul caught up with Yazzie while she was in Los Angeles for a project to talk about why she founded New Native Theatre with a focus “on nurturing and developing Native American artists” of all ages and experience levels.
Yazzie is a member of the Navajo Nation and an award-winning playwright who has seen her work performed on stages from Alaska to Mexico. She was a Bush Foundation fellow in 2018 and the year before she was recognized with a Sally Award. Her first feature film, “A Winter Love,” has been screened at numerous film festivals.
This interview was edited for length.
Q: How did you get involved in theater?
A: I grew up in Farmington, New Mexico, and Albuquerque. I was encouraged to be creative, and there was a professor at the University of New Mexico who visited my high school and was giving advice to folks. I decided to apply for a playwriting scholarship, and I ended up getting it. It was small, like $400. But that opened the door to becoming a theater major. And I had a professor who really encouraged me, and I really learned about the art of theater and playwriting especially. I just really, really adored it. I went on to grad school in Los Angeles and, ultimately, I came to Minnesota.
Q: What brought you to the Twin Cities?
A: I came to the Playwrights’ Center on a Jerome Fellowship in 2006. That is a national fellowship for emerging playwrights.
Q: Where do you have your productions? I saw “Bear Grease” was at the Gremlin Theatre in St. Paul.
A: We have rented Gremlin Theatre quite a bit. Like many theater companies, we do not have [our own] space in the Twin Cities. We will rent spaces all around the Cities. But we also produce quite a bit of work in Native organizations and have done site-specific presentations. We did tour a play to 10 native organizations in St. Paul and Minneapolis. And we have in the past produced plays at the Minneapolis American Indian Center. So, it’s safe to say we perform all around the Twin Cities. Our voice is about serving Native American artists, wherever in the state of Minnesota or the upper Midwest. That’s what we do.
Q: What are the themes you come back to?
A: I’m very interested to know why people get into conflict. I really like absurdist theater, and part of that was people trying to understand how to communicate. But ultimately, the stories were about people’s inability to communicate.
Growing up Navajo, I understood that there’s a different worldview that we have as Navajo people interacting in the world, and I always found cultural differences really intensely interesting. I’ve got a play that’s being produced in Washington, D.C., at Mosaic Theater Company about Nancy Reagan. I’m also interested in politics, and stories of women. That’s the reason I wrote a play about Nancy Reagan, because there’s an interesting intersection of Indian country and the whole story about the Reagan administration.
Q: Talk about the local Native theater scene.
A: Well, I knew about Penumbra here. Theater Mu(Asian American theater) was here. I came to Minnesota in 2006, completely believing, “Oh, there’s a Native American Penumbra here.” But there wasn’t. And it was a big point of my fellowship at the Playwrights’ Center — “Oh, we don’t know any Native actors; we don’t have any Native playwrights.” There was no meaningful program for an urban Native community. So I set out to doing that, creating space on the stage for Native people and community. We really started to see this new ecosystem. And it’s been very satisfying.
Q: What was your first production?
A: We did a series of events. The first event I did was a lunchtime reading of the book “Custer Died for Your Sins.” Vine Deloria [Jr.] is a very important well-known author who started publishing in 1968 and has many books about Native American philosophy and talks about America in general. It’s sort of political. He is a pretty major voice in the American Indian movement. He was based in Minneapolis for quite some time.
And then our very first full play production was a community-created, devised work called “The Dreaming Bundle” in December of 2010.
Q: Is it accurate to say New Native Theatre planted the seeds for Native theater here?
A: Oh, absolutely. We’ve worked with practically every single Native person who does theater in the Twin Cities [laughs]. That’s not what my focus is. My focus isn’t: “We’re trying to be the first.” We just want to create stories that Native folks genuinely see themselves reflected back. The gap in the theater landscape is, “Where are the stories by and for Native American people?” — rather than the stories that are created to educate the white community. There’s a huge difference in the kind of story that gets told when Native folks are writing for themselves, writing stories that are really trying to understand themselves as human beings.
“… This summer an alcohol fueled argument escalated into something that I deeply regret. I said and did things that are unacceptable and I take full responsibility for my actions. Although there was never any physical violence I am deeply remorseful for the fear and trauma caused by my anger. I’ve since been given an opportunity to step back, reflect, assess, heal and grow. Although the path was unfortunate, the destination was necessary. I’ve been able to embrace sobriety, spirituality, and integrity. I’ve been able to find myself again and love myself again. The clarity and perspective I now possess is priceless and has fueled my determination and dedication. It’s no coincidence that this next chapter of my life begins as I turn 40 and I can’t wait to live the rest of my life as the best version of myself I’ve ever been and continue to give back to my community.”
Bullshit. Then, and especially now.
It’s clear Sutherland’s primary concern has been the impact of his legal case on his career. Plus, he knows he has the power to shape the narrative about the next chapter of his life.
Influential men always do. Sutherland’s success and charm could still provide the platform for him to earn an abundance of grace, and an apparently consensual meeting with the alleged victim will only enhance those ambitions. But those accused of domestic violence should not have the ability to proclaim their redemption. They’re not reliable sources.
The criminal complaint from the summer incident states that the alleged victim told police Sutherland had been physically and verbally abusive in the past. It’s a familiar story. Too familiar. According to the National Domestic Hotline, 4 out of 5 victims of intimate partner violence from 1994 to 2010 were women. And more than three-quarters of the female victims ages 18 to 49 were “previously victimized by the same offender.”
Thursday’s arrest complicates Sutherland’s legal case and perceptions about his summer encounter with his girlfriend. But it doesn’t change the facts.
Many residents in the apartments next to the proposed nightclub are visiting workers such as travel nurses or farm laborers, he said. “It makes no sense to have a nightclub that has concerts next to a place where people need to rest to work in the community,” Zuleger said.
He has said that the company also partners with addiction centers and women’s shelters to house Willmar’s most vulnerable residents, and some of these tenants would be too close for comfort to the new nightclub.
Instead of a nightclub, the site should be used for a Somali community center where children from the nearby apartments can play, Zuleger said. Willmar, a city of about 21,000 people, is about 24% Hispanic and 11% Black, with 16% of the city born overseas, double the average rate in the rest of Minnesota. About 43% of the company’s tenants are Somali, and Zuleger called them his “best-paying renters.”
But Doug Fenstra, the real estate agent helping sell the property at 951 High Av., said he had never heard about the possibility of a Somali community center before Zuleger brought up the idea at an October planning commission meeting.
On Wednesday, the planning commission deliberated whether a nightclub would fit the character of the neighborhood. They noted that there was already a brewery in the area.
They passed a motion granting the conditional-use permit.
“DHS and our state and federal partners have seen evidence that kickbacks are happening in Minnesota,” Inspector General Kulani Moti said in a statement. “That’s why we brought an anti-kickback proposal to the Minnesota Legislature last session. We will continue to work with the Legislature next session on ways to strengthen the integrity of our public programs.”
Nuway Alliance, one of the state’s largest nonprofit substance use disorder treatment providers, pays up to $700 a month for someone’s housing while they are in intensive outpatient treatment, the organization’s website states. The site lists dozens of sober housing programs clients can choose from.
Nuway leaders said they got an inquiry from the government about two and a half years ago indicating they are conducting a civil investigation into the housing model.
But officials with the nonprofit said in an email they believe what they are doing is legal and clients need it. More than 600 people are using their assistance to stay in recovery residences, Nuway officials stated. They said having a safe, supportive place to stay is particularly important for the vulnerable people they serve, more than half of whom reported being homeless in the six months before they started treatment.
Health plans knew about, approved and even lauded their program, Nuway leaders said, noting that health insurer UCare even gave it an award.
“The state of Minnesota has been fully aware of our program for a decade,” the organization said. “Since payors are fully aware of, and support the program, we struggle to see how anyone could argue it is improper, let alone fraudulent.”
