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Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers Artist Bios LOU BELLAMY LOU BELLAMY (DIRECTOR & PRODUCER) is the founder and artistic director of Penumbra Theatre. Under his leadership, Penumbra has produced 23 world premieres, including August Wilson's first professional production, and is proud to have produced more of Mr. Wilson's plays than any theater in the world. Mr. Bellamy is an OBIE Award-winning director, an accomplished actor, and sought-after scholar. He has been a member of the University of Minnesota's faculty for 32 years and is currently appointed to the rank of associate professor in the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance. Recent directing credits include Black Pearl Sings!, Radio Golf, Fences and The Piano Lesson at Penumbra, A Raisin in the Sun and Gem of the Ocean, Penumbra productions staged at the Guthrie, Two Trains Running at the Signature Theatre in New York, Jitney at Kansas City Repertory Theatre and Arizona Theatre Company, and the staged reading of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom at the Kennedy Center.WILLIAM S. YELLOW ROBE, JR. WILLIAM
S. YELLOW ROBE, JR. (Playwright) is an enrolled member of the
Assiniboine Nation located on the Fort Peck Indian reservation in
northeastern Montana. William is the Playwright in Residence at
Trinity Repertory Company and has been a Guest Lecturer/Professor at
the Africana Studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
Yellow Robe is an actor, playwright, director, poet, and
instructor. He is a Faculty Affiliate in the Creative Writing
Department at the University of Montana, inMissoula, Montana, and was awarded a Libra Professor of Diversity status at the University of Maine, in Orono, Maine. His body of work includes over forty-five plays, including full-length plays, one-acts, book for musical, and children’s play. His plays include; The Independence of Eddie Rose, Sneaky, The Star Quilter, The Body Guards, The Council, Better-n-Indins Falling Distance, Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers, and the Pendleton Blanket.” William is a member of the Dramatist’s Guild Inc., Native Writers Circle of the Americas, and is a member of the advisory boards for Red Eagle Soaring Theater in Seattle, Washington, and the Missoula Writers’ Collaborative in Missoula, Montana. His plays have been presented in readings and productions at the New York Public Theater, American Conservatory Theater, the former Seattle Group Theatre, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Minneapolis Playwrights’ Center, Illusion Theatre, Montana Repertory Theatre, and the Perishable Theatre. William is a recipient of a Theatre Communications Group National Residency Grant, Princess Grace Fellowship, Jerome Foundation Grant, New England Theatre Conference Award, and was awarded the first First Book Award for Drama from the Returning the Gift conference. BRENT MICHAEL DAVIDS BRENT MICHAEL DAVIDS (Musical Director) is a member of the Mohican
Nation and an internationally recognized composer whose music features
elements of Native American tribal music combined with Western
Compositional techniques. Davids has received numerous awards
from organizations such as NEA, Bush Foundation, Meet the Composer,
ASCAP, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Sundance Institute.
Davids holds a Bachelor degree and Master degree in composition from
Northern Illinois University and Arizona State University respectively. MARY K. WINCHELL MARY K. WINCHELL
(STAGE MANAGER) is a
longtime Penumbra Theatre
company member. Most
recently, she stage managed
Penumbra's Black Pearl
Sings!, Black Nativity: A
Season for Change, Radio Golf and Gem of
the Ocean. Other Penumbra credits include
The Piano Lesson, Get Ready, Black Nativity:
Twenty Years of Holiday Cheer!, Seven Guitars,
Jitney, Two Trains Running, King Hedley II
and Dinah Was. She has stage managed at the
Orpheum Theatre, State Theatre, Pantages
Theatre, Children's Theatre Company, Jungle
Theater and the Coconut Grove Playhouse
in Miami. She has lent her talents to Macy's
Glamorama and served as production stage
manager for Dorothy Hamill’s Nutcracker on
Ice, Aveda's 20th Anniversary Celebration at
Radio City Music Hall, and Super Bowl xxvi
Winter Magic.M. COCHISE ANDERSON M.
COCHISE ANDERSON (Stevie Jackson) is a Chickasaw & Choctaw from
Oklahoma. He is an actor, poet, spoken word performance artist,
playwright, storyteller and traditional musician. Cochise studied
at Portland (OR) State University and at The American Musical and
Dramatic Academy in NYC. He founded and was the artistic director
of Chuka Lokoli (“Community”), Native American Theatre Ensemble in NY
with The Ensemble Studio Theatre. Cochise was the Performance
Element instructor for this year’s Summer (Youth) Institute here at
Penumbra. He recently returned from performing in Washington D.C.
at The National Museum of the American Indian and The Open House Arts
Festival at the Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts. He also
has a newly released CD of spoken work, traditional music and
contemporary beats entitled, “The Kemosabe Therapy.” His current
full-length play, “Braided Lives,” will be read as part of the Raw
Stages Festival this fall at The Great American History Theatre here in
St. Paul. His credits include, (TV) The Cosby Show, Homicide:
Life On The Streets, (Film) Daughters of The Dust, Bill’s Gun Shop, and
(Theatre) Canned Goods, Penumbra Theatre and originated the title role
of “The Independence of Eddie Rose, Seattle Group Theatre. He
dedicates this performance in loving memory to his mother, Juanita A.
Anderson, a practitioner of unconditional love, inspiring visions and
dreams. www.cochise-okcha-a.comFREEDOME BRADLEY
FREEDOME BRADLEY (Elmo Robe) is artistic director,
a founding member, director and actor with Creative Stages Theatre. He
is one of the producers of Urban Pop a festival that creates and
cultivates new Urban American Theatre. This past summer Urban Pop
produced 13 shows during the month of August including Solider Boy Blue
by Franco, and A Matter of 2nd’s by Herb Donaldson. Over the past two
years he has been responsible for some of New York City’s new cutting
edge theatre producing three very successful off-Broadway festivals and
working with some incredibly talented playwrights and actors. He
originated the role of Albert Parsons Jr. in Melody Coopers award
winning play Day of Reckoning. In addition to Urban Pop he has produced
Shade at the Abington Theatre and Frozen Bizarre at the Linhart
Theatre. Freedome is a Graduate of Sarah Lawrence College’s MFA Theater
Program and guest professor at Nassau Community College where he
instructs theatre. He wishes to thank the Universe and everyone in it,
bus especially his friends & family for giving him a home, support,
guidance, and encouragement, through thick and thin. DONNA (CROSS-COUTEAU) BROOKS DONNA
(CROSS-COUTEAU) BROOKS (Juanita A. Jones) is a member of the Sac and
Fox Nation of Oklahoma. With the help of Lee Udall and Rebecca
Harkness, she began a classical ballet career in New York City. Donna
portrayed Peter Pan in the touring company of Disney on Parade. She
worked for Spiderwoman Theatre in NYC. When the 2nd Native American
Theater Ensemble formed she met Hanay Geiogamah, Jane Lind and Marie
Antoinette Rogers who encouraged her in acting. Donna starred opposite
Randolph Mantooth in Footprints in Blood for AITCO in Tulsa, Ok. She
and her husband Joe Cross formed Leaparrow Storytellers which includes
traditional dance in performance. They were selected as two of fourteen
storytellers in the Western Hemisphere to open the new NMAI Smithsonian
Museum in Washington, D.C. last September 2004. She thanks William
Yellow Robe, Jr., Penumbra Theatre, and Trinity Repertory Theater for
the honor of helping to tell this important, historic story. Many
thanks to my tribal elders for their support, and my family especially
my folks who will celebrate their 60th Wedding Anniversary this fall
and my husband, Joe and “Bunny Boy” our Chihuahua.JAMES CRAVEN JAMES CRAVEN
(ABE)
is a long-time
Penumbra Theatre
company member.
Select credits at
Penumbra include
Fences, The Piano
Lesson, Penumbra's production of Gem
of the Ocean presented at the Guthrie
Theater, Get Ready, Zooman and the
Sign, Grandchildren of the Buffalo
Soldiers and REDSHIRTS, co-produced
with Round House Theatre. He also
performed at Kansas City Repertory
Theater and Arizona Theater Company
in their joint production of Jitney.
James is a 2005 recipient of the Spenser
Cherashore Fund and was awarded a
2007 McKnight Fellowship.JAKE HART JAKE HART (Brent Robe) This production is Mr. Hart’s first at Penumbra
Theatre Company and he is honored to be here. Jake is a company
member of The Seattle Shakespeare Company and The Colorado Shakespeare
Festival. He is also an Artist/Educator for The Red Eagle Soaring
Native American Theatre Group. His most recent roles include
Uncas in Edge of the World at The Seattle Repertory Theatre, and
MacDuff and Hecate in Macbeth at The Peseverance Theatre Company.
Mr. Hart is humbled to be working with such an amazing cast and crew,
and would like to thank everyone at Penumbra for this opportunity. GEORGE A. KELLER GEORGE
A. KELLER ( Carol “Sugar” Robe) This is her first show with Penumbra.
She is very proud to be a part of Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers
cast. A few of her credits include: Yellow Woman in Black Elk Speaks,
Catherine in A View from a Bridge and Tina in Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding
which she played for over 5 years between Portland, Oregon and the Twin
Cities. She has done numerous television commercials and industrial
commercials as well films Change of Heart, Lifetime Channel and
Halloween Town The Disney Channel. She would like to thank her family
for all their love.JASON TURNER JASON
TURNER (Kenny Tassel) regional acting credits include Circle of Thanks
and Toronto at Dreamer’s Rock, Mashantucket Pequot Museum, CT; Harvest
Ceremony: Beyond the Thanksgiving Myth, National Museum of the American
Indian, NY; Time Warp, Stamford Theatre Works, CT; Hair (90’s Version),
The Three Musketeers, Servant of Two Masters, Tartuffe, Fiddler on the
Roof, at Connecticut Repertory Theatre. He was also in the film, Ralph
Talk. Previous Trinity Rep Productions include Theater from the Four
Directions Festival of New Plays from First Nations Playwrights
readings of Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers, Blood of the Rez:
Paper Wars and The Gap. Mr. Turner holds a B.F.A. from the
University of Connecticut: School of Fine Arts, Dept. of Dramatic Arts.MAYA WASHINGTON MAYA
WASHINGTON (August Jackson) is an actor, choreographer, writer and arts
educator who lives in Minneapolis. She has appeared at The Guthrie
Theater, The Children’s Theatre, The Playwrights’ Center, The Great
American History Theatre, Alchemy Theater, The House of Blues Sunset
Strip, The Powerhouse Theatre, and Stage 52. Maya has worked as
Choreographer for Youth Performance Company’s productions of Junie B.
Jones and a Little Monkey Business, Free to Be You and Me, Freedom
Riders, and Narnia. Maya holds a BA in Theatre from the University of
Southern California where she received both the Kennedy Center/American
College Theatre Festival: Irene Ryan Nomination and the USC Ava
Greenwald Nomination. Maya is currently completing her thesis
project at Hamline University’s MFA Writing Program in St. Paul,
Minnesota. Her full-length play, South of Adams, West of Figueroa
recently received a staged reading in Burbank, CA. The work is featured
in the anthology, The Playwrights’ Center Monologues for Women
(Heinemann Drama, 2005). A touring production of her one-act, Colorful
Women of Invention, was produced at Youth Performance Company in
2003. Maya’s poem, January First, commissioned by the Family
Housing Fund, is presently featured in “Home Sweet Home Again,” a
regional touring fine art and poetry exhibition.MAGGIE ERICKSON Maggie Erickson is going into 9th Grade at South High School in
Minneapolis and will enter the All Nations Program. She began dancing
when she was three years old. She participated in a drum and dance
group at Heart of the Earth School for eight years. Last year she was
named Miss Indian Rochester in a statewide competition at Rochester’s
Historical Center. Maggie dances and competes at Pow-wows thoughout the
year. She is currently teaching her nieces jingle dress dancing.
Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers marks Maggie’s first professional
choreography project. She would like to thank her Mom and Dad for
helping her, and her teacher Roberta Fox. She would also like to thank
her Aunties and the rest of her family for supporting her and helping
her continue to dance. Special thanks to Marcie Rendon for introducing
her to Lou Bellamy and Penumbra Theatre. SARAH BELLAMY SARAH BELLAMY
(EDUCATION DIRECTOR)
is the principal scholar
and editor for Penumbra
Theatre. Her work includes
the research and composition
of the contextual essays to
accompany Penumbra's main-stage productions.
Ms. Bellamy also oversees the creation of
standardized, original curricula for educators
to engage culturally specific arts in their
classrooms. She has designed several programs
that engage patrons of the theatre in critical
thinking, dialogue and action around issues
of race and social justice. Among the most
renowned are the "RACE Workshop: Meet
Your Metaphor," curated to accompany the
Science Museum of Minnesota's exhibit
RACE: Are We So Different?, and Penumbra
Theatres Summer Institute, an intensive
theatre-training program for youth to practice socially responsible art and civic engagement.
Ms. Bellamy is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence
College, and holds an M.A. from The University
of Chicago. She is currently working toward her
doctorate in Comparative Studies and Discourse
in Society at the University of Minnesota.MAY MAHALA MAY MAHALA
(Dramaturge) is a PhD
candidate in Theatre
Arts at the University of
Minnesota. Her
writing has appeared in
The Blue Earth Review,
California Quarterly,
Colere, NYU’s Women and
Performance Journal,
Theatre Journal, and Xcp: Cross Cultural Poetics.
She has worked with The Illusion Theatre, New
World Theatre, The Pillsbury House Theatre,
The San Francisco Mime Troupe, Theatre
Unbound, and Works/Plays. Her fellowships and
awards include The August Wilson Fellowship at
Penumbra Theatre, two Many Voices residencies
from the Playwrights’ Center, and first place in
Garrison Keillor’s Festival of Romantic Writing.LOY ARCENAS LOY ARCENAS (Scene Design) Broadway credits
include: Love! Valour! Compassion!, Once
on this Island, Prelude to a Kiss, High
Society, The Glass Menagerie, The Night of the Iguana. Regional credits
include set design for American Conservatory Theatre, American Repertory
Theatre, Arena Stage, Berkeley Rep, Goodman Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Laguna
Playhouse, Mark Taper Forum, Seattle Rep, Steppenwolf Theatre Company,
Shakespeare Theatre. Directing credits include Warren Leight's No Foreigners Beyond This Point,The Romance
of Magno Rubio (Obie Award), Flipzoids,
Middlefinger, Watcher. Mr. Arcenas has received several awards which
include an Obie Award for sustained excellence of Set Design, LA Critics Circle
Award, and the Jeff Award. He's from the Philippines. MARTIN GWINUP MARTIN GWINUP
(SOUND & VIDEO DESIGNER)
is an associate professor in
the Theatre Arts and Dance
Department at the University
of Minnesota. He teaches audio
and video technology, design
and production. He has also worked in the Twin
Cities area as a freelance sound and video designer
and technician for 18 years. Martin has worked
for the Frank Theatre, History Theatre, Children's
Theatre Company, Cricket Theatre and Eye of the
Storm. Select design credits at Penumbra include
REDSHIRTS, Get Ready, Blue, Black Nativity - A
Celebration of Family, A Celebration for the Soul...
Testify! and Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers.
MATHEW J. LEFEBVRE MATHEW J.
LeFEBVRE
(COSTUME DESIGNER)
has designed costumes
for several Penumbra
Theatre productions
including Fences,
REDSHIRTS,
Get Ready, Grandchildren of the Buffalo
Soldiers, On the Open Road, Black Eagles,
Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Jitney, and
both Scenery and Costumes for Gem of
the Ocean. Off Broadway credits include
costumes for Two Trains Running at
Signature Theatre—Lortel winner, best
revival of a play, AUDELCO nominee,
best costumes—and Bach at Leipzig for
New York Theatre Workshop. Mr. LeFebvre
has designed costumes for the Guthrie
Theater, The Acting Company, The
Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, The Kansas
City Rep, Arizona Theatre Company,
Trinity Rep, Theatre de la Jeune Lune,
Geffen Playhouse, Mixed Blood Theatre
and American Players Theatre.MICHAEL WANGEN MICHAEL WANGEN
(LIGHTING DESIGNER) has
worked regionally as a
lighting designer since 1978.
He has designed over 60
productions for Penumbra,
and served as Penumbra's
resident lighting designer from 1987-2000.
Mr. Wangen has also designed for the Guthrie
Theater, Children's Theatre, Frank Theatre,
History Theatre, Illusion, Pillsbury House,
The Jungle and Mixed Blood. Recent designs
locally include My Antonia, Illusion Theater;
No Child and King of Shadows, Pillsbury House
Theatre; Rent, performed at the Lab Theatre by
Cardinal Productions, and The Best Christmas
Pageant Ever with SteppingStone Theatre.
He also currently serves as the lighting designer
for A Prairie Home Companion when it is in
residence in St. Paul. Trinity Repertory Company Since its founding in 1964, Trinity Repertory Company has been one of the most respected regional theaters in the country. Led by Executive Director Edgar Dobie and Acting Artistic Director Amanda Dehnert, featuring an acclaimed resident acting company, Trinity Rep presents a balance of world premiere, contemporary, and classic works, including seven subscription productions, an annual production of A Christmas Carol, and the Trinity Summer Shakespeare Project, for an estimated annual audience of nearly 160,000. In its 41-year history, the theater has presented nearly 50 world premieres, mounted national and international tours, and, through its graduate-level theater arts conservatory, trained hundreds of new actors and directors. For more information, visit www.trinityrep.com. PENUMBRA THEATRE COMPANY PENUMBRA THEATRE was founded in 1976 by Lou
Bellamy to make socially responsible art - art that demanded
a response, art with intent, art that could create change. At a
time when roles for black artists were limited to stereotypes
and comical representations, Penumbra produced theater that
roared with authenticity through the unrestrained and rich
voice of black artists and playwrights. This respect for cultural
authenticity became Penumbra's signature style - and demand
for it has reached new heights from theaters around the country
fostering collaborations, new productions, tours and awards. In
2006, Penumbra's first national tour was co-produced with Trinity
Repertory Theatre in the staging of Grandchildren of the Buffalo
Soldiers. Penumbra has also co-produced with Round House
Theatre in Bethesda, Md. Last season, Mr. Bellamy and Penumbra
journeyed to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and the
Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. This season, Penumbra joins
forces with The Cleveland Play House, Kansas City Repertory
Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company and the Guthrie Theater. For
the latest news and updates, visit www.penumbratheatre.org. |
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