Spiderwoman Theater, a longtime La MaMa resident company and a founding force in Native American and feminist performance, marks 50 years with a nine-day festival on East Fourth Street. Spiderwoman's Global Indigenous Theatre Festival runs Friday, October 30, through Saturday, November 7, and brings Indigenous companies from New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Minnesota to La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, with four shows, a run of free workshops and a closing gala.

The timing lines up with the start of November, which the United States recognizes as Native American Heritage Month. Every visiting company in the lineup is led by Indigenous artists, and several of the works were built over years with elders and young people in their home communities.

The Four Shows

The festival runs in two waves. The first two shows play October 30 through November 1, and the second pair plays November 4 through 6.

  • KŌPŪ, Te Pou Theatre (Aotearoa New Zealand), October 30 to November 1. A cast of Māori women performs a 75-minute mix of live song, poetry, theater and poi, the Māori performance form built around swinging weighted balls on cords. The piece looks at womanhood through the eyes of young wāhine Māori and the older women of their marae, and it began as a commission from the Auckland Arts Festival. Te Pou Theatre is based in Waitākere, in the Auckland region.
  • Invisible Shadows, Ikidowin Theater Ensemble (Minneapolis), October 30 to November 1. A 55-minute play about young people growing up in an urban Indigenous community during the opioid epidemic, told with song. The ensemble, formed in 1990, is made up of Indigenous actors who tell stories drawn from their own lives, and some of its members joined as young as 11. Spiderwoman Theater is among the company's past teachers.
  • Maayuma li Mubirr (Healing Scars), Moogahlin Performing Arts (Australia), November 4 to 6. Yuwaalaraay composer and performer Warren Mason created this 65-minute work, which combines guitar, field sounds from his homeland, several languages and movement choreographed with Jo Clancy, Lily Shearer and Kiarn Doyle. It premiered at Carriageworks in Sydney in July. Moogahlin was founded in Redfern, New South Wales, in 2007.
  • All My R(el)ations, Aanmitaagzi (Canada), November 4 to 6. A 45-minute dance theater piece and installation from Nipissing First Nation in Ontario, directed by Penny Couchie. It was built over six years, drawing on more than 300 storytelling lunches with elders and several summers of youth workshops, and its cast includes both professional artists and community members.

The Gala on November 7

The festival closes Saturday, November 7, with a 50th anniversary gala curated and directed by Murielle Borst-Tarrant. La MaMa describes it as a tribute that brings Indigenous artists and the downtown arts community together on one stage. Further program details had not been posted as of October 29.

Free Workshops at the Community Arts Space

Alongside the shows, the visiting companies are teaching free workshops at La MaMa's Community Arts Space, 74A East Fourth Street. Space is capped for each one, and RSVPs go by email to John Breen at jpbbreen@gmail.com. The remaining sessions:

  • Thursday, October 29, 3 to 5:30 p.m.: Art in Community with Aanmitaagzi, using movement, theater and visual art to build stories rooted in community (15 participants).
  • Friday, October 30, 3 to 5:30 p.m.: a cultural movement workshop led by Moogahlin's Jo Clancy, Lily Shearer and Kiarn Doyle, with Warren Mason on music, run like a circle-based dance class (40 participants).
  • Thursday, November 5, 3 to 5 p.m.: Waiata Māori with the Kōpū cast, who will teach a Māori song and traditional performance, including a turn at poi (20 participants).
  • Friday, November 6, 3 to 5 p.m.: a session with Ikidowin Theater Ensemble, details to be announced.

A song-story workshop with Warren Mason opened the series on Wednesday, October 28.

Tickets and Getting There

Single tickets are sold on each show's page on the La MaMa site, and prices include all fees. La MaMa is also selling a two-show package for $40 and a full festival pass covering all five ticketed events for $100. The box office line is (646) 430-5374, staffed 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.

La MaMa's theaters and box office are at 66 East Fourth Street, between the Bowery and Second Avenue, and the Community Arts Space is a few doors down at 74A East Fourth Street. The closest subway stops are Second Avenue on the F, Bleecker Street on the 6, Astor Place on the 6, and Broadway-Lafayette Street on the B, D, F and M.

The festival opens Friday, October 30, and the gala closes it on Saturday, November 7. Full schedules, show times and ticket links are on La MaMa's Spiderwoman festival page.

Sources