About

Mission
Red Eagle Soaring Native Youth Theatre (RES) exists “to empower American Indian and Alaska Native youth to express themselves with confidence and clarity through traditional and contemporary performing arts.”

History
Red Eagle Soaring is a non-profit 501(c)(3) Native Youth Theatre formed in 1990 in Seattle, Washington by a group of Native theatre artists as a tribute to Nez Perce actor John Kauffman (who had recently passed from this world). RES offers Seattle urban Native youth ages 11-19 contemporary theatre integrated with the traditional performing arts that define our Native culture – drumming, singing, and storytelling. Since our formation RES has staged 130 student productions, mentored hundreds of youth, and grown into a full annual cycle of programming consisting of a touring Spring Play (traveling to tribal settings, schools, and conferences throughout the Northwest, as well as Seattle’s Folklife Festival), a 2-week summer performing arts intensive held at Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center (culminating in a free public performance), and a series of after-school drama classes in the fall. The majority of our teaching artists are Native, and our programming is always offered in the context of traditional Native values. Our programming supports the ‘Since Time Immemorial’ Washington state tribal history and sovereignty curriculum developed by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. We collaborate with and receive in-kind support from organizations like the Seattle Indian Health Board, Native People for Cancer Control, the American Indian Women’s Service League, Clear Sky Native Youth Council, United Indians of All Tribes, Longhouse Media, and the Seattle Public School District’s Huchoosedah Indian Education Program.

Objectives
Red Eagle Soaring’s objective is the creation of theatre that inspires cultural pride and fosters community interconnectedness. We offer urban Native teens a learning community that openly and explicitly supports and encourages academic achievement, artistic expression, spiritual awareness, physical well-being, and social capital. We are committed to teaching our youth Native tradition, history, and culture that reflects the *diversity of tribal origins in Seattle’s urban multicultural setting.

The skills young Natives need to thrive in the 21st century are the daring, persistence, and self-discipline fostered in Red Eagle Soaring’s integrated arts program. Students learning to deconstruct a large creative task into small achievable increments bond with other Native teens and make connections to the larger Native and multi-cultural community while learning improvisation, play-writing, singing and drumming, video, set and costume design, lighting and sound, and graphic design. Over the years RES has seen living proof of the power of Native theatre to transform and illuminate the lives of both participants and audiences.

*For a snapshot of Seattle’s rich cultural diversity, a list of the tribal affiliations of our current students, teaching artists, volunteers, and staff (that reads like poetry!): Abenaki, Aleut, Alutiiq, Anishinabe, Apache, Assiniboine, Athabascan, Blackfeet, Cherokee, Colville, Cowichan, Cree, Dakota, Dena’ina, Grande Ronde, Gros Ventre, Haida, Inupiaq, Iowa, Klallam, Lakota, Lummi, Mattaponi, Meskawki, Muscogee (Creek), Navajo, Nez Perce, Nooksack, Ojibwe, Osage, Otoe, Pamunky, Pawnee, Pond O’reille, Potawatomi, Puyallup, Seminole, s’Klallam, Southern Cheyenne, Tlingit, Tsartlipe, Tsleiwat, Tsymsyan, Umatilla, Yakama, Zuni.

Pidamaya…   Gunalcheesh…   Nitsiniiyi’ taki…  Kleco kleco…   Miigwech…   Ah-sheh’heh.

Our deepest gratitude and thanks to those who have invested in our vision of a generation of proud and confident Seattle urban Native youth: Northwest Children’s Fund, the Seattle Foundation, the Lucky Seven Foundation, the City of Seattle Department of Human Services, the Seattle Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture, the Safeco Foundation, 4Culture, the Spirit Walk Foundation, Starbucks, Native Peoples for Cancer Control, the Tlingit Haida Chapter of Washington, the Tulalip Tribe, the Muckleshoot Tribe, the Quinault Nation,  the Squaxin Island Tribe,  the Puyallup Tribe, the Suquamish Tribe, the Lummi Nation, and the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation.

Staff

Managing Director Fern Renville (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate) is a graduate of the Evergreen State College and a former teen theatre nerd.

Bookkeeper Sofia Olson lives on a boat and knows Quickbook magic.

Board of Directors

Martha Brice (adopted Tlingit) – Vice-President – is a founding member of RES, holds an MS from Yale, and is a retired researcher in Hematology and Medical Genetics at the University of Washington.

Sarah Lawson (Iowa) – President – is a Juris Doctorate of the University of Wisconsin law school and an attorney for the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe.

Hannah Franklin is both ensemble member and Co-Artistic Director of critically acclaimed Washington Ensemble Theatre.

Carol Warrior (Alutiiq/Aleut/Dena’ina Athabascan/White Clay Gros Ventre), is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Washington’s Department of English and sits in the Native seat on the Board of Directors of the UW Graduate and Professional Student Senate.

Yvette Pinkham (Southern Cheyenne) - Secretary – is a community organizer, a Social Worker for DSHS/Office of Indian Child Welfare, and a mentor to Native youth.

Lawrence Leake - Treasurer – is the Director of Development and Communication at Potlatch Fund and lives in Seattle with his three children.

 

 

 

Jeff Barehand (Navajo and Gila River) is an actor, writer, and filmmaker. He was drawn to the theatre as a young man when a date unexpectedly took him to see his first musical. Since, he has not been able to shake the performing bug and hopes to bring other young Natives into the fold.

 

 

Teaching Artists

Coming Soon. Stay tuned