TDPS welcomes AlterTheater, playwright Blossom Johnson for inaugural Indigenous Performing Arts Residency

Blossom Johnson, Playwright

Playwright Blossom Johnson is the inaugural Indigenous Performing Artist in Residence.

Diné Nishłį (i am a sacred being) or, A Boarding School Play

AlterTheater is the inaugural Indigenous Performing Arts Company in Residence, and will present readings of Johnson's play, Diné Nishłį (i am a sacred being) or, A Boarding School Play.

March 12, 2024
Ben Dillon

Alternative Theater Ensemble (AlterTheater) will visit UC Berkeley from April 10 to April 13 to present staged readings of Diné Nishłį (i am a sacred being) or, A Boarding School Play, written by Blossom Johnson and directed by Daniel Leeman Smith. The readings are the centerpiece of the inaugural Indigenous Performing Arts Residency, a collaborative initiative piloted by the Department of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies (TDPS) and the Arts Research Center (ARC). AlterTheater’s residency extends from 2024 to 2026, and offers the opportunity to produce a new work by an Indigenous performance-based artist each spring of the residency’s duration.

Diné Nishłį is a humorous and poignant exploration of coming of age and coming into identity, set at a prep school on the Navajo Reservation that was formerly an American Indian boarding school. Against the backdrop of the events of 9/11 and the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, four teenage girls participate in a traditional song and dance group to celebrate their Navajo heritage. Along the way, they encounter the spirited opinions of their teachers, the ghosts of the school’s history, and the visions of their future.

"This play celebrates Diné language, songs and culture in the best way I know,” Johnson said. "There are so many elements of Diné storytelling in this play, and I hope Diné people feel empowered and encouraged to learn something new about their culture. Maybe they will walk away with one song or remember a time when they were young and heard their grandparents singing."

ARC will host readings on April 10, April 12, and April 13 in Hearst Field Annex, Unit D23. Tickets are available for $10 to $20 through AlterTheater's box office

TDPS will host a reading and talkback with the play's creative team on April 11 in Durham Studio Theater (Dwinelle Hall). Admission will be free for UC Berkeley students, faculty, and staff.

Schedule of Staged Readings

Wednesday, April 10 at 7 p.m.

Arts Research Center, D23 Hearst Field Annex

Admission: $10 for students; $20 for general public

Thursday, April 11 at 2 p.m. (followed by a talkback with the playwright)

Durham Studio Theater, Dwinelle Hall

Admission: Free for UC Berkeley students, faculty, and staff

Friday, April 12 at 7 p.m.

Arts Research Center, D23 Hearst Field Annex

Admission: $10 for students; $20 for general public

Saturday, April 13 at 2 p.m.

Arts Research Center, D23 Hearst Field Annex

Admission: $10 for students; $20 for general public

About AlterTheater

Based in San Rafael, California, AlterTheater seeks to create a more just, equitable community by supporting the creative growth of theater artists from historically underrepresented communities, and telling stories that reflect the full complexity and diversity of our community. Their work centers the spiritual and emotional well-being of Black and Indigenous people, casting roles in ways that break stereotypes rather than reinforce them and creating opportunities for both established and emerging artists to learn and support each other in their craft.

About the Indigenous Performing Arts Residency

As a collaborative initiative of UC Berkeley's Arts Research Center (ARC) and the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS), the Indigenous Performing Arts Residency Program aims to strengthen relationships with Indigenous community partners and to create ongoing material support for emerging Indigenous performing artists. The program stems from the idea that embodied theater and performance practices are sites of historical remembering and knowledge production.

During each three-year residency, ARC and TDPS invites a local performance company to UC Berkeley for the opportunity to produce a new work by an Indigenous artist each spring. During the presentation of the performance, the featured artists are invited to campus to offer talks or workshops, meet with classes, and engage with students in a variety of ways that best support the artistic production.

Blossom Johnson, Playwright

About the Playwright

Blossom Johnson is a Diné storyteller, playwright, teaching artist and screenwriter. She is from the Yé’ii Dine’é Táchii’nii (Giant People) clan, and her maternal grandfather is from the Deeshchíí’nii (Start of the Red Streak People) clan. When she creates, she writes for her people. In her writing, she reveals truths that are hard to face but she balances the darkness with humor, so the viewer has a chance to breathe and laugh. Blossom was awarded a residency with Willowtail Springs/Durango PlayFest. Additionally, she has been awarded AlterTheater Ensemble’s AlterLab 2020-21, the 2022 First Peoples Fund Cultural Capital Fellowship, La Lengua/ AlterTheater Ensemble’s Decolonization Stories Commission 2022, The Playwrights’ Center 2022-2023 Jerome Fellowship, and is proud to be a recipient of the Minnesota State Arts Board Creative Support for Individuals 2023. Blossom holds an MFA in Dramaturgy from Columbia University and a BA in Theatre from Arizona State University. A proud member of the Dramatists Guild, and the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA).

Daniel Leeman Smith

About the Director

Daniel Leeman Smith is a proud two-spirit citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma currently based in New York City. He is a director, playwright, and theater educator whose work is often positioned at the intersection of community, art, education, and activism with a focus on Native joy. Daniel is a doctoral candidate in the program of Educational Theatre in Colleges and Communities at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, where his work is grounded in applied theater and ethnodrama with a focus on decolonial practice in the theater. He is currently an Adjunct Professor of Theatre Studies in the Department of Drama at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts where he currently teaches Approaching Indigenous Theatre. He is a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, as well as an alumnus of the SDC Observership Program, and Lincoln Center Education’s Teaching Artist Development Lab. He earned his BFA and MA at Oklahoma City University and completed the graduate theater conservatory program in physical and devised theater at the SITI Company. Daniel is also the 2014 recipient of the New York City Pride Award.