Marcie R. Rendon
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[edit] Biography
Marcie R. Rendon is an enrolled member of the White Earth Anishinaabe Nation. She is a mother, grandmother, writer, and sometimes performance artist. She is a playwright, poet, and freelance writer. A former recipient of the Loft’s Inroads Writers of Color Award for Native Americans she studied poetry under Anishinaabe author Jim Northrup. She was a l998/99 recipient of the St. Paul Company’s LIN (Leadership In Neighborhoods) Grant to "create a viable Native presence in the Twin *Cities theater community". With the support of this grant she was able to collaborate with other native artists to create the infamous FREE Frybread script. She received a 1996-’97 Jerome Fellowship from the Minneapolis Playwright Center. Her firstchildren’s book, Pow Wow Summer was published by CarolRhoda Publications in 1996. Her second children's book, The Farmer’s Market/Families Working Together, was released in the spring of 2001. In addition to her creative writing, she is a freelance writer for newspapers, magazines and grants writer. Media:http://hometown.aol.com/MRendon703/
[edit] Artistic Statement
We are kept in their mindset as “vanished peoples.” Or as workers, not creators…And what does this erasing of individual identity do to us? Can you believe you exist if you look in a mirror and see no reflection? And what happens when one group controls the mirror market? As Native people, we have known that in order to survive we had to create, re-create, produce, re-produce… The effect of the denial of our existence is that many of us have become invisible…the systematic disruption of our families by the removal of our children was effective for silencing our voices…. however, not (everyone) can still that desire, that up-welling inside that says sing, write, draw, move, be… we can sing our hearts out, tell our stories, paint our visions…we are in a position to create a more human reality…in order to live we have to make our own mirrors….
Marcie Rendon is available for poetry readings, writing workshops, and
theater residencies. For more information, please contact her at: Media:MRendon703@aol.com
[edit] Books
Farmer's Market, CarolRhoda Books, Mpls., a children’s book comparing the lives of two multi-generational families (one Hmong, the other German/Polish) who market produce at the St. Paul Farmer’s Market. Recipient of the WLA Children's Book award
Pow-wow Summer, CarolRhoda Books, Mpls. (Notable Children’s Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies, National Council for the Social Studies and the Children’s Book Council, l997)
Whiteness at Work: A Positive Diversity Curriculum, (2000) Bock, Mary, Ph.D.; Kellogg, Polly, Ph.D.; Rendon, Marcie, M.A. Sirius Communications, Mpls., MN
Native Models for Business Success, Available through the Minnesota Junior Achievement Project
[edit] Short Stories in Anthologies and Publications
"The Waiting", Stories Migrating Home, edited by Kimberly Blaeser, Loonfeather Press, Bemidji, MN
"Hannah-the Midwife" - Fall 1998 issue; Rising Dawn, a publication for the people of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and MN. First publication in Dream and Visions/New Frontiers in Christian Fiction, Skysong Press, Ontario Canada, 1990, Vol. 6.
"A Native American Birth Story - Birth Stories:The Experience Remembered", Crossing Press, CA and Fireweed/A Feminist Quarterly, Fireweed Press, Canada.
[edit] Educational Non-fiction
"Renewing the Countryside: Community Interviews for Horizons Community Leadership Project", published on-line
Investigative paper on Indian Land Consolidation Act for the Indian Land Tenure Project - 2004
Standardized Test Passages for Harcourt-Brace Educational Testing Services – ‘02-‘04
"Native Models for Business Success", booklet for Junior Achievements educational curriculum – l993
[edit] Plays
"SongCatcher: A Native perspective of Frances Densmore", published in Keepers of the Morning Star: An Anthology of Native Women’s Theater; UCLA American Indian Studies Center, Los Angeles, California (2003).
Maggie’s brain… - Off-Leash Area Theatre, Mpls., MN (2007)
Neurotica - Scripted in collaboration with Thunderbird Theatre Students, Haskell Indian College, Lawrence, Kansas, March 2004 Artistic Director Pat Melody - DISPLAY THE PLAYBILL
Predator/Prey - Full production February 2004 at The Playright Center, Minneapolis, MN. Text by Marcie Rendon, script development and staging by Paul Herwig, choreography by Jennifer Ilse - both of Off-Leash Area Theatre, Minneapolis, MN
Sacajawea - Commissioned work with full production spring 2003 at Fargo-Moorhead Community Theatre, Fargo, North Dakota
Rough Face Girl – Billed as a Native American Cinderella story, this play is based on a Micmac tribal legend. It is a story about unhealed grief and one young woman's ability to see beauty in the face of fear, loneliness and pain. When we can see the beauty around us, in each other and ourselves, there is hope for love, togetherness and laughter." Produced in March 2001 at BAPA Imagination Stage, Bethesda, MD. Janet Stanford, Artistic Director. Directed by Rebecca Rice. 1 hr.
Urban Rez – Urban Rez is a work-in-progress, poetic-movement piece exploring native life in the inner-city. As part of Eye of the Storm Theater’s "SEED the Storm" Series, Urban Rez had a staged reading in April 2000, directed by Artistic Director Casey Stangl. 40 min.
l837 Mille Lacs Treaty – This play depicts the urban struggles of people of color today alongside the historical and current treaty issues of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota. Rendon worked as mentor and dramaturg with the students of the Minnesota American Indian AIDs Task Force Summer Native Arts Prevention Program to create this piece. ‘Treaty’ was produced at the Southern Theater, Mpls., MN and at Mille Lacs Cultural Center, Mille Lacs Reservation, MN, in August 1999. Directed by Sharon Day. 1 hr. Copyright and script held by: Minnesota American Indian AIDs Task Force, Sharon Day, Executive Director. 612-870-1723
FREE Frybread Telethon – Just what can you do on stage with a beaded leather thong bikini? Determined to break cultural stereotypes of drums, feathers and flutes, FREE Frybread was collaboratively written by cast and crew as a hilarious evening of song, dance and performance art – complete with commercials from Rez-rider Auto Parts and Nit-Git. Native country’s own Vanna Brown tally’s the pledges. The Rice Girls and BuffyAin’tForFree are featured attractions. Even Elvis Shapeshifter makes an appearance. The audience are members of the telethon studio watching volunteer telephone operators take pledges to FREE Frybread. The show’s music was created by nationally-renowned Mohican composer Brent Michael Davids (Bluebutterfly). FREE Frybread had an sro production at Bryant Lake Bowl Theater in l999. It was also produced in l999 at the Minneapolis Fringe Festival and as a dinner show for both the AFACS annual banquet and at St. Croix Casino, Wisconsin. A version titled FREE Frybread and Chitlins too… was staged at Intermedia Arts, Minneapolis, in 2000 as part of IA’s Black Natives art exhibit. Scripted, produced, and directed by Rendon this is a 1hr. show.
Raving Natives “Theater in the House" Productions are collaborative theater pieces created for ‘site-specific’ locations. Plays are scripted and directed by M. Rendon, and collaboratively written and performed by the creative cast that worked together on FREE Frybread. Shows include:
The Ghost of Manifest Destiny, written & performed by Brent Michael Davids and Eric Keast at Jungle Theater in conjunction with pARTS Gallery’s photography exhibit ‘Silent Witness – Landscapes that have witnessed genocide’. 2002. 5 min.
As the Spiritual World Turns at Patrick’s Cabaret, May 2000. 20 min.
Ho Ho Ho and a Cuppa Jo played at Black Bear Crossing Coffeehouse in Dec. ’99 45 min. an indian love/murder play performed in private homes in Seward and Powderhorn neighborhood, March ‘99 and at Blackbear Crossing Coffeehouse in April ’99 1 hr.
SongCatcher - Journalist Janice Command has this to say about the play SongCatcher, “The play forwards a Native perspective on the life and work of Frances Densmore, whose early 20th Century recordings of traditional and sacred songs have been part of the tug-of-war between the Smithsonian Institute and tribal members in recent years. SongCatcher delves deep into the controversies that surround anthropology and cultural appropriation. SongCatcher is a complex play in many ways. History, the spirit world, and contemporary life converge on stage. The plot involves Jack and Chris, a Native couple whose apartment becomes crowded with spirits when Jack innocently, but misguidedly, misuses sacred art and songs. One of those spirits wandering in the apartment is Densmore. The play, commissioned as biography, is undoubtedly a controversial and enlightening perspective on the celebrated musicologist’s work. There will be disagreements as to whether the interpretation demonizes, or merely humanizes, its title character.”
Playwright’s notes: “In this age of multi-culturalism, a much larger question being asked by this play is: From whose perspective is history told? Whose stories get accorded academic credibility? Who determines whose version of history is accurate? How does a history, told from a mono-culturistic point of view shape people’s perceptions, not only of historical times and events but also people’s perceptions of themselves?”
This Native perspective of the life of ethnomusicologist Frances Densmore had a staged reading Nov 10, ‘99 by Red Road Productions, NY at the American Indian Community House Theater’s SkyWoman Festival. Its first full production was at the Great American History Theatre, St. Paul, MN, ‘98. Ron Peluso, Artistic Director. Directed by Casey Stangl. 2 hr.
Bring the Children Home – This is a story of one child’s search for his name. Commissioned by Child’s Play Theatre, Steve Barbario, Aritistic Director, and produced at Pillsbury House Theatre, Oct. ’96. 1 hr.
Outside In, Inside Out - Story/play © by Peg Wetli, CLIMB Theatre, St. Paul, MN. l997.
Inner-City Opera - Collaborative theatre piece for The Great American History Theatre, (song by M. Rendon: A Place in the Sun) St. Paul, l996.
The Trial of Standing Bear is an in progress operatic theater piece with full outline and two completed scenes as of 2002. Book by Marcie Rendon, music by composer Brent Michael Davids. The two completed scenes were presented as a Nautilus Rough-Cuts series January 8 & 9th, 2001under the direction of Ben Krywosz.
Looks into the Night - screenplay written with Valerie RedHorse, story © by Lorraine Norrgard (American Film Institute, l995; Winner of Best Dramatic Short - American Indian Film Festival, l996)
[edit] Artist-In-Residence
- Tama Iowa Tribal Center – 1 day theater residency with teen youth – July 2007
- Fond du Lac History Museum – spoken word writing residency - 2007
- Indigenous Task Force, Mpls - theater/performance residency - 2006
- White Earth Anishinabe Language Project - theater residency - 2006
- Minneapolis Native Community - theater residency - 2006
- Hayes Middle School, 3-week residency with Middle school students. Created This is My Clan theatre piece with students. May 2005.
- Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Scripted by Marcie Rendon, in collaboration with LCO Tribal College students, LCO Tribal College, Hayward, Wisconsin, April 2005
- Neurotica, Scripted by Marcie Rendon in collaboration with Thunderbird Theatre Students, Haskell Indian College, Lawrence, Kansas, March 2004, Artistic Director: Pat Melody
- Numerous writing residencies with New Voices Project, under Director Rebecca Dallinger – AIOIC, the Circle, Wilder Forest Youth, Spoken Word Performance-l998-2003.
Numerous writing residencies with Neighborhood SafeArt youth, under Director Marilyn Lindstrom – various mural
Marcie Rendon is available for poetry readings, writing workshops, and theater residencies. For information regarding availability and fees, please contact via e-mail: Media:MRendon703@aol.com
[edit] Awards/Grants/Residencies
- Jerome Travel Grant - 2008
- UofM Native American Journalism Internship – Summer 2000
- Nautilus Music-Theater Residency – Spring 2000
- Many Voices Multi-cultural Collaborations Grant - Playwright Center - ‘98-’99
- St. Paul Company’s Leadership in Neighborhoods (LIN) Award - l998-99
- Jerome Fellowship, Playwright Center - 1996-97
- Intermedia Arts Emerging Artists Installation Grant - 1995-96
- Norcroft Writing Residency for Women - 1995
- COMPAS Community Art Program - 1995
[edit] Collaborations, Performances, and Readings
- Weismann Art Museum, UofM, Mpls., spoken word performance for Russian Avante Garde Art Exhibit with Bao Phi, Doug Kearney & Yurick Glasow, 2001;
- TricksterX, New Voices Poetry Reading at Acadia Cafe, Mpls, 2001;
- Aboriginal Eliminating Racism Conference, Sydney, Australia, Aboriginal Women Reading on Racism, 2001;
- Birchbark Books poetry reading, Mpls, 00-02;
- Lyn-Lake Street Fair poetry reading, Mpls, Aug. 2000;
- just a kid – Patrick’s Cabaret, March 2000;
- Featured Poet at Sky Woman Festival, A celebration of Native Women in Theater, American Indian Community House, NY, Nov ’99;
- FREE frybread musical revue – MTCC Annual Poetry and Song Student Evening, April, l999;
- Op-Ed Slam – celebrity slammer at Kieren’s Pub, l999;
- Vulva Riot ‘Women in Prison Book Project’ Benefit-Intermedia Arts, l999, 2000-02;
- reader for SASE ‘Poetry about Town’ series, l998-02;
- MN Fringe Festival-Native Rave Cabaret - Loring Playhouse-‘97 & l998;
- Maiden Voyage: lost your virginity? - original performance piece-Cheap Theatre production-‘97;
- A Pebble in the Sea, street performance with SafeArt & Migizi youth-’95;
- The Underground Railroad Project directed by Robbie McCauley, Penumbra Theater ‘95
[edit] Newspaper Articles
Pioneer Press, St. Paul; The Alley; The Seward Profile; the artist’s voice; Native City News; The Circle; Minnesota Women’s Press; Star & Tribune; The Edge; Lac Du Flambeau Tribal Press
[edit] Magazine Credits
Spectator, Vol1,#3, Mpls., A moveable feast-literally; Rising Dawn, Archdiocese of St. Paul, MN-short story, Hannah; Parenting Magazine, San Francisco, CA - interview; Colors Magazine, Mpls., MN - article; A Journey to Life:Native People with HIV and Traditional Healing, for Nat’l Indian AIDS Media Consortium
[edit] See Also
Profile of Marcie on Voices in the Gaps
