Category: U-M

We spent all day today putting the final touches on 50 Cents a pound and The Frybread Queen. We started rehearsal at 9:30am working all the final moments, transitions between speaker and play etc. Took a break for lunch and then we were once again joined by Joe and the drummers to do a final run through before we show it to an audience.

As we were getting ready to begin I wasn’t very nervous. Over the past few weeks I’ve gotten to know the people I’m performing with so well and I trust them each immensely as well as the community sitting and watching. We’re telling their story, which is intimidating and I thought it would be scarier than it was. The audience and the cast were so supportive and I felt them rooting for us before it even started. Thats what I call a powerful community.

Although our performance had a few hiccups, I think it was one of the best times we went through the whole thing. It was also so inspiring to listen to the stories from the men who risked their lives and stood their ground for their rights. Especially the stories about the Natives v. The Sporty’s. I remember on of the speakers, Tom Malloy, mentioning his son carrying a baseball bat with spokes in it for protection against the sporty’s. I remember, Jim LeBlanc, talking about how people lost their lives trying to fish and that night when the Fitzgerald Sank, the same night mentioned in our play, but he didn’t know that at the time. Afterwards, when he saw our physical representation of it, he said it was exactly like that. That forceful, that powerful, it was a truly amazing complement.

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With the show being tomorrow we’re working really hard to make sure everything is precise and beautiful in our movements as well making sure we remember our lines and get through the scenes.

Today we also introduced to drummers who helped us piece together the transitions from piece to piece and helped us formulate the ending to our show. The drums added a layer of power to the show that I never could imagined. It was the best way, I think, to demonstrate the strength and faith those Native Fisherman had then during those wars and storms. And how that strength has carried on still today.

Today, we’re back at LSSU working hard to clean up this show for Friday. This morning we started at 10am to work and perfect all of the movement motifs that appear throughout the play. We worked on rhythm, precision, and staying together when need be. Also today we worked specifically on physicalizing a storm at sea for one of our final gestural scenes.

 

In the afternoon, we were joined by Joe Medicine and we spent time working on the verbal scenes between the fishermen (Who are played by Tomantha, Eli, Joe Medicine, and Zach). Then finally we tried to piece everything together to see the skeleton of the show. It looks/feels pretty cool in my opinion.

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Today we spent the day rehearsing 50 cents in the Bay Mills library! The library is a part of a community college located on the Bay Mills reservation. Many of us read books about Native culture while catching up on our internet backlogs. Upstairs, some cast members rehearsed the fish show with Joe Medicine, a singer and drum leader who works at the library. Other students went to the Boys and Girls Club and the Bay Mills Charter School to talk about our performance and dialogue event. The show is starting to feel more and more solid each time we put it on its feet. 4 days til showtime!!!

 

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Today we said good bye to the Mary Murray Culture Camp on Sugar Island and moved into the LSSU dorms. After we got settled we headed over to Bay Mills to have a fish fry with our friends Becky and Joe Parish and their adorable baby girl Rebecca Joe. The gathering included conversations about activism and songs led by Thomas Lopez. It was a beautiful to see Tomantha Sylvester singing some her own Anishinaabe songs.

On the way there we say a boat tied to the dock by the name of BIG ABE. Big Abe was the fisherman who spear-headed the case which took on the fish wars and he’s one of the main plot points in 50 Cents a Pound! 

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Today we drove to St. Ignace to go to a small Pow Wow that was being held outside the Ojibwe Museum. We ate fry bread, Danced during the inter-tribal dances, and talked with a bunch of people. The MC invited Thomas Lopez (IIYC) to the center of the dance arena and he  gave a wonderful speech about the IIYC, their work and connection. Then the female singers sang a song of honor for the members of the IIYC.

Following the Pow Wow, we ate dinner then it was off the Fry Bread Queen rehearsal.

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Today we had 50 cents a pound rehearsal. IT’S GETTING CLOSE TO SHOWTIME!! Today we worked on writing and physicalizing phrases that we heard over the trip that relate to water. Be it from hearing fishermen stories or something we noticed we wrote them and physicalized them and maybe they’ll make their way into the show. This rehearsal we were joined by Michael and Tomantha from LSSU and Eli from IIYC (Indigenous Youth Council). 

 

Afterward, we made our way back to Sugar Island for the BBQ!

Today we caravanned across the bridge to Canada for a day trip to Manitoulin Island. After many hours in the car we crossed another bridge – from Canada’s mainland to the island. We stopped for lunch and icecream where we met with Chris Bigras a founder of the Zhiibaahaasing First Nations reserve in Manitoulin. Following her lead, we visited sites along the way to her village. We saw the beautiful Bridal Veil Falls

visited an Ojibwe Cultural Center and crafts shop that featured traditional porcupine quill and beaded jewelry for sale.

Next we got a tour of a church that blends Anishinaabe and Christian practices and teachings. Our tour guide explained some of the imagery, such as dreamcatchers symbolized both the four directions and the four apostles.

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The second day of the Water Protectors Conference continued with a Sunrise Ceremony to start the day. The ceremony brought together traditional people and pipe carriers from many nations across the Great Lakes region. Grandma Josephine Mandamin led a water and strawberry ceremony to start the prayers.

After the ceremony, ATE went over to Kewadin where the conference continued with a keynote speech from former Chairman of the Little Traverse Bay Band of Ottawa, Frank Ettawageshik, who spoke about the history of treaty rights. He pointed out how the US government and the tribes had fundamentally different understandings of the definition of the terms used in the treaties. For the tribes, fishing and hunting rights were relational rights – the right to continue a healthy and natural relation with the swimmers and four-legged and other lifeforms – whereas the settlers saw these rights as property rights.

Thomas Lopez from the International Indigenous Youth Council sparked dialog at the conference, asking the community what they were doing to engage the youth, pointing out the absence of young people from the room. Many people agreed that in whatever resolutions the group passed in regards to water diversion, there should be youth involved in the committees that carry the work forward.

The group gets together for a photo at the Water Protectors conference.

Back row (left to right): Colleen Medicine, Jillian Walker, Malcolm Tulip, Tomantha Slyvester, Zach Kolodziej, John Diehl, Jonathan Diehl

Front row (left to right): Micaela Dominguez Ironshell, Thomas Lopez, Sara Radamacher, Anita Gonzalez, Eli Horinek, Shaunie Lewis, Maggie Miller

An elder and leader speaks at the conference.

We started today off with another rehearsal with Malcolm for 50 Cents a Pound.  Today, Malcolm, Jonathan, Zach and I were joined by Tomantha, Michael, and Brie from LSSU. As a group, we focused on making motifs that could be used later on in the production. We started to physicalize the truth behind the treaty. What was said and what actually happened between the Natives and the Sporty’s particularly. We also physicalized one of the storms described in 50 Cents a Pound. A storm in which actual fisherman lost their lives.

We were also joined by three fierce and fearless members of the Indigenous Youth Council. Thomas, Mika,  Eli. We attended the Water Protectors Conference held at the Kewadin Casino (Sault Ste. Marie). We talked about current Water Crisis, and the pollution facing water as a whole but specifically pipelines that are damaging to our Great Lakes which is 20% of the worlds surface water and Sacred Duty the Native Community has to protect it. One thing that was pointed out by one of the community speakers was that no where in any treaty have Natives given up their right to protect the water. Finally, the evening was concluded with a keynote presentation by 13 year old activist Autumn Peltier. Who represented youth and her tribe at conferences all over the world to help to preserve clean water. She was a rockstar!