Naatsilanei Play Performance

Abstract

UAS student Ishmael Hope, in collaboration with UAS student Erin Tripp, former UAS faculty member Flordelino Lagundino, and Ed Littlefield and Frank Katasse, will write a play based on the story of Naatsilanei, the origin of the Killer Whales, entitled The Reincarnation of Stories. Lagundino will direct, Littlefield will compose original Tlingit songs, and Tripp, Katasse, Hope, and Littlefield will perform the play. Stories will also tell, in its entirety, master storyteller Willie Marks' original version of the Naatsilanei story, all in Tlingit. The performance will be held at Perseverance Theater, who will serve as co-producers with UAS and Lagundino's Generator Theater. The Reincarnation of Stories will, for the first time, perform a play that tells a story entirely in the Tlingit language. There will be much English in the performance, too, to make the show accessible for today's audiences. This project, though, will advance the cause of Tlingit language revitalization, and build on the skills of UAS students and Tlingit language learners Tripp and Hope. We are "role models" for our peers and for the next generation. In recognition of this fact, we will visit schools, such as the Early Scholars Program classrooms at Juneau-Douglas High School and Thunder Mountain High School, in which we'll talk with Native students about the play, about Tlingit language and cultural learning, and about considering UAS to advance their educations.