A sleepaway camp designed for and by Indigenous theater aficionados is being held at Portland State University July 29 through Aug. 2.
The 26 students in attendance will live in the dorms and attend daily theater trainings as well as college prep sessions. The students also get to meet and work with Native staff on campus. By the end of the week-long camp, students showcase their work in a variety of ways: some will act in student-written plays, some will create writing or art projects and others will perform in a short media project which is pitched by students then edited by camp staff.
This is the fourth year of the camp, which has been held at different college campuses across the West. Last year, some of the students had the opportunity to participate in the Broadway production of “The Thanksgiving Play” by Larissa FastHorse. The camp has previously been held at University of Nevada at Reno, UC Berkeley and Southern Oregon University.
Jeanette Harrison, co-founder of the theater camp for Native youth and creative director of Bag and Baggage’s Native Theater Project joins us to share more. Returning campers Gia Fisher and Niyla Willow also join us. Fisher will be performing in “Diné Nishłį (i am a sacred being) Or, A Boarding School Play” by Blossom Johnson and directed by Harrison. The play will tour throughout the greater Portland area this September.
This transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer.
Dave Miller: From the Gert Boyle Studio at OPB, this is Think Out Loud. I’m Dave Miller. A week-long sleepaway camp designed for and by Indigenous theater folks started today at Portland State University. The 26 campers will stay in the dorms and attend daily theater trainings, as well as college prep sessions. At the end of the week, these middle and high schoolers will showcase their work in student-written plays and other projects.
Jeanette Harrison is a co-founder of this camp that was created by Bag and Baggage, Alter Theater, and Tribal Minds. She’s also the creative director of Bag and Baggage’s Native Theater Project. Fourteen-year-old Niyla Willow from Nevada is attending for her second time. Seventeen-year-old Gia Fisher, who lives in Portland, is at the camp for a third year. It’s great to have all of you on Think Out Loud.
Jeanette Harrison: Thank you.
Miller: Jeanette, first. Why did you decide to help start this camp?
Harrison: Well, the thing that we all keep saying is, we are building the program that we wish that we had had as students. We had to fight so hard to find our way to other Native theater artists, to Native storytelling, and it wasn’t something that was supported in most institutions. So I think one of the great joys, now, at this moment in time, is being able to build the program of our dreams.
Miller: Well, Jeanette, just to stick with you for a second – what did that mean for you? I mean, when you were a young person interested in theater, what was the terrain like for you?
Harrison: It was very western-centric. I went to school at a top research university with one of the best libraries in the entire country, and it wasn’t until after I graduated from college that I found my way to Spiderwoman Theater collective, and Bill Yellow Robe, and all these plays by Native writers. Nobody in college could point out a single Native play and – not to date myself – this was really before Google was a thing. So it was actually really hard to find work. I think that one of the joys now is that there is so much work being created, and our communities are so incredibly talented, and just finding more ways for that work to get out into the world.
Miller: Gia, why did you want to go to this camp? As I mentioned, this is now your third year.
Gia Fisher: I initially wanted to join this camp because it’s simply amazing that Natives are running this, and that I can meet other Native kids my age and create these amazing pieces of art. It’s just amazing, the family I’ve built here and I’m very grateful.
Miller: Before this camp, had you had the experience of being around, I guess, about more than two dozen other young Native people who are all interested in theater, film, or TV?
Fisher: I think mostly it’s just cool to create things together. I made a short film called “Life After,” with Terry Jones, and it got screened in the Haudenosaunee Micro-Short Film Program. He is a Seneca filmmaker. It was just cool being able to work with everybody together, help make a short film of mine come to life, and have people see it.
Miller: Niyla, how did you get interested in theater?
Niyla Willow: How I got interested in theater is, basically, I’ve been watching movies my entire life. Me and my mom have always bonded through movies, even trashing some films. But we have so much fun just watching. And when I was a little kid, I would watch movies and I would think, “Why can’t I do that? Why can’t I go on the big screen?” – all those possibilities just going in my brain.
Miller: That was when you were a little kid, as you say. You’re 14 now. What has it been like to learn the craft that fascinated you, it seems like, for your whole life?
Willow: It feels like a dream, in all honesty. Being able to hear from people who have done things in theater and be able to be around kids who do want to be in theater or be in movies, actresses, and also to hear from genuinely experienced people is really amazing. And I’m happy that I’m here,
Miller: Jeanette, where do you draw campers from?
Harrison: We primarily reach out to Tribal Nations and a lot of Nations have education departments. That’s one of our primary sources. We get mostly kids who are either reservation kids, like Niyla is from … You want to tell them where you’re from?
Willow: I’m from McDermitt, Nevada. I come from the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe.
Miller: Not that far from the Oregon border.
Willow: Nope, we’re literally on the border.
Harrison: In fact, I think McDermitt is one of the only Nations that straddles the border. Some of their land is in Nevada, some of their land is in Oregon.
Miller: And then, also Jeanette, it seems some of your campers come from reservations, others from throughout the West?
Harrison: Yeah, we actually got started with this program in 2020. One of the co-founders with me, Teresa Melendez, was working with McDermitt, in fact. We had had a plan to tour a Native play to Tribal communities in Nevada. Obviously, the pandemic made that plan go sideways. But Teresa called me up at one point, when we’re all twiddling our thumbs waiting for the world to reopen. And she said, “You know, those intergenerational workshops that you were going to do with our community as part of the tour, would you consider doing something like that – but virtually – and just with our kids? Parents just really need something for kids to do right now.”
That was the birth of the program. We started out virtually. Niyla and Gia both participated in virtual workshops in the early year or two. And that was the genesis for this whole thing, and it came about because the communities wanted it and needed it. So, as we’ve been building it, we’ve been doing it with the communities in mind. I moved to Oregon myself a little over a year ago. That was when we really expanded into Oregon. My previous company, Alter Theater, was based in California. And then Teresa’s with Tribal Minds, which is based in Nevada. So it was mostly Nevada and California kids. But we had kids from as far away as the Seneca Nation in New York State. We have a kid who flies in from Hawaii, and it’s amazing. I think that one of the ways that parents find us is that they are super connected to their Tribal communities. We do our outreach directly with Tribal Nations and however it is that they share that with their members is how kids find their way to us.
Miller: Gia, can you give a sense for what happens over the course of what seems like a pretty packed week?
Fisher: Basically, the first day we go around the college campus that we’re in and we get to speak with the Native faculty. They gave us a tour, and talk about the Native community and the colleges, which I find personally very encouraging to know that there’s Native people in colleges. We also get to meet students and get together, eat together, have fun, talk about life in the college.
Then for the rest of the week we start on our projects. People choose, let’s say, different fields. Some people want to write a play. Some people, they wanna make a film, and others, they wanna help. Like, I know someone who is really good with sound. They went around to help everyone with sound, and some people make music. So everyone just picks what category they wanna work with. Then they get assigned to a counselor and they’ll mentor them. And by the end of the week, after all the hard work, we showcase it to everybody and perform it to all the parents and all our peers. And it’s a really fun show at the end.
Miller: Niyla, what is the best part about camp for you?
Willow: Personally, the best part about camp for me is the showcasing day. Everybody’s getting ready. Everyone feels so anxious, and just happy and excited. All the mixed feelings are there. And at the very end of the week, you look at all the people who you befriended, and just think about everything that’s happened and all the memories that you made during the week. That’s probably my favorite day – presenting day.
Miller: It seems like that’s almost like the definition of a theater kid, what you like the most is when you can get up there and actually do the show.
Willow: [Laughter] Yeah.
Miller: Jeanette, as Gia mentioned, day one – which I guess today is day one – is about, among other things, familiarizing yourself with these different college campuses. Why put these on at campuses?
Harrison: Oh, that’s a great question. Dave, one of the reasons that we do this is that a lot of our students are the first in their family to go to college. So if kids stay with us all four years, they will get four very different college experiences. Our point is that we are going to a different college campus at least once every four years. So it’s partly a holistic camp, it’s a performing arts camp. But it’s also about college and career prep. I forget which one of you mentioned about the sound engineer. Kids really get to explore, not just acting, not just performing, but they also get to explore different career options in the arts.
Then they get to know the local community. It’s also really important, when we look at retention rates for Native students in higher ed, they are abysmal, and one of the things that really helps, especially for kids who come from their Tribal communities, is making sure that these kids know where to go to get support. So we’re gonna be over at the Native Students and Community Center here on PSU campus. We’re gonna be talking with the Multi-Ethnic Retention Services Department. And then also talking with Financial Aid and Admissions, because these are all things that our kids don’t get as much exposure to.
Miller: Gia, I understand you’re going to be acting in a play that Jeanette is directing this fall around Portland. It’s called “Diné nishłį (I am a Sacred Being): A Boarding School Play.” What can you tell us about this play?
Fisher: Well, I can tell you it’s definitely gonna be really fun. I’m personally very excited for it. I like the writer. It’s very exciting and one of the things that they can’t help me with was create a Native community in the theater. It’s like when I go to a theater job, it’s a little scary. You gotta be vulnerable, you gotta be able to be out there. And one of the things I look forward to working on the play is being able to work with fellow Native actors, Native director and everybody, because I always feel very comfortable and safe. It’s always a great vibe. So definitely if you’re in town, come see it.
Miller: Niyla, Gia has already acted in films and on Broadway. What are your hopes for your career?
Willow: Personally, my hope for my career is to be able to get on the big screen, be able to be in movies, because that’s where, as a little kid, I would always watch movies like that. I want to be able to be on a screen with a little Native kid saying, “Oh my gosh, that’s a Native girl. Look at her,” and finally be able to say we have representation.
Miller: Gia, what about you? What are your hopes for your career?
Fisher: I just wanna be a part of the mainstream, just be present and be there as myself as an actor, and also be there as a Northern Cheyenne woman and Seneca woman, too.
Miller: And Jeanette, what are your hopes, just for this week?
Harrison: My hope is that these kids just grow in confidence and really feel secure opening themselves up and learn the skills to start telling their own stories, and that they make lasting friendships.
Miller: Jeanette Harrison, Gia Fisher and Niyla Willow, thanks very much.
Harrison / Fisher / Willow: Thank you, Dave. Thank you for having us.
Miller: Jeanette Harrison is the creative director of Bag and Baggage’s Native Theater Project. She’s one of the co-founders of the theater camp for Native youth created by Bag and Baggage, Alter Theater and Tribal Minds. Gia Fisher is in the camp for the third time, Niyla Willow for the second time.
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