Presenter Resources
The Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts’ production of
AND SO WE WALKED: An Artist’s Journey Along the Trail of Tears
Written and performed by DeLanna Studi
Directed by Corey Madden
Produced by Octopus Theatricals
Co-represented by Octopus Theatricals and Indigenous Performance Productions
DESCRIPTION
DeLanna Studi, Cherokee performance artist and activist, shares a powerful, multi-faceted dramatic memoir in AND SO WE WALKED: An Artist’s Journey Along the Trail of Tears. This frank, heartwarming and inspiring story recounts the experience of a contemporary Cherokee woman (Studi) who, with her father, embarks on an incredible 900-mile journey along the Trail of Tears to truly understand her own identity and the conflicts of her nation. The play recounts the six-week journey, which retraced the path her great-great grandparents took in the 1830s during the forced relocation of 17,000 Cherokee from their homelands. AND SO WE WALKED draws on extraordinary interviews, historical research, and the artist’s personal experience to convey the complexities and conflicts with which the Cherokee wrestle. Studi received the 2016 Butcher Scholar Award from The Autry Museum of the American West in acknowledgement of her work on AND SO WE WALKED.
VIDEO
PRODUCTION HISTORY
UPCOMING
Available for booking in the 22-23 and 23-24 seasons
TOUR HISTORY
Minetta Lane Theatre (New York, NY)
Pittsburgh Playhouse, Point Park University (Pittsburgh, PA)
Moss Center - Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA)
Vassar College [Virtual Engagement]
Moss Center - Virginia Tech [Virtual Engagement]
Kerr Cultural Center, Arizona State Univ. (Scottsdale, AZ)
Dartmouth College (Hanover, NH)
Carthage Theatre Festival (Tunis, Tunisia)
Univ. of Wisconsin - Green Bay (Green Bay, WI)
Indiana Repertory Theatre (Indianapolis, IN)
ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES
It is important to DeLanna that she connect with local Indigenous students and/or communities where she performs. Engagement activities for a given community can be co-created in a bespoke manner, and previously have included:
-Social gatherings for DeLanna to meet the local community
-Storytelling workshops
-Panel sessions on tribal sovereignty, MMIW awareness (missing and murdered Indigenous women), Indigenous voices in film/media and more
DeLanna is currently Artistic Director at Native Voices at the Autry, which presents a wide array of opportunities for wider partnership with the Indigenous artist and museum communities.
PARTICULARS
AND SO WE WALKED can be performed at various scales of production, A-D.
A: Full set (raised wooden deck in heptagon shape, woven backdrop for projection, all furniture, props, costumes)
B: Adjusted set (no deck/interlocking sticks frame playing space, woven backdrop for projection, all furniture, props, costumes)
C: Basic set (interlocking sticks frame playing space, no woven backdrop/projection on cyc provided by venue, furniture sourced locally, show props/costumes shipped)
D: Minimal set (interlocking sticks frame playing space, no projection, furniture sourced locally, show props/costumes shipped)
SCRIPT
Password Protected
TECHNICAL RIDER
SCHEDULE
Per Presenter
Pre Hang
2 Days Before 1st Performance
Hang Scenery and Lay Deck
Focus Lights
Sound Check
Tech
1 Day Before 1st Performance
Tech / Dress Rehearsal
Day of 1st Performance
Work Notes
Performance
PERSONNEL
# Personnel
- 1 Performer
- 1 Stage Manager
- 1 Lighting Supervisor/ASM
- 1 Video/Audio Supervisor
- 1 Director or Production Manager (at select engagements where restaging needed)
- 4-5 Total
PRESS
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PROGRAM COPY
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APPROVED PHOTOS
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KEY ARTISTS
DeLanna Studi
Originally from Liberty, Oklahoma, DeLanna Studi is a proud citizen of the Cherokee Nation. Her theater credits include the First National Broadway Tour of the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning play August: Osage County; Off-Broadway’s Informed Consent at Duke Theater on 42nd Street; and regional theater credits at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Portland Center Stage at The Armory (Astoria: Part One and Two), Cornerstone Theater Company, Indiana Repertory Theater and others. DeLanna has originated roles in more than 18 world premieres, including 14 Native productions. She has done more than 800 performances of the Encompass “Compassion Play” KICK, a one-person show written by Peter Howard that explores the power of images, stereotypes and Native American mascots. Her roles in the Hallmark/ABC mini-series Dreamkeeper and Chris Eyre’s Edge of America have won her numerous awards. She is anensemble member of America’s only Equity Native American theater company, Native Voices at the Autry. DeLanna serves as chair of SAG- AFTRA’s National Native Committee, which has, under her leadership, produced an award-winning film about American Indians in the entertainment industry and created a “Business of Acting” workshop that tours Indian Country. DeLanna was the winner of the 2016 Butcher Scholar Award from the Autry Museum of the American West. She mentors for the Mentor Artist Playwright Program, Young Native Playwrights and American Indian Film Institute’s Tribal Touring Program. Her artist-in- residencies include the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Wisconsin (where she co-taught “Native American Oral Histories and Storytelling” and “American Indians in Film”) and Brown University. And So We Walked is her first play.
Corey Madden
Corey Madden is an award-winning writer and director as well as a national leader in the performing and visual arts.
Corey has worked on And So We Walked since its inception seven years ago supporting DeLanna Studi’s research and writing, as well as directing the play at the Carthage International Theatre Festival, Portland Center Stage, Triad Stage, Trinity Repertory, Native Voices Theatre, and the Process Series at UNC Chapel Hill.
Corey was Associate Artistic Director of the Mark Taper Forum from 1993-2007 where she produced 300 premieres by Robert Lepage, Anthony Minghella, Anna Deavere Smith, Tony Kushner, Lisa Loomer, August Wilson, Luis Alfaro, and many, many others. In 2007 with her late husband, Bruno Louchouarn, Corey founded L’Atelier Arts which created multi-disciplinary projects including Sol Path and Rain After Ash commissioned by Fulcrum Arts’ A×S Festival; Tales of the Old West for the Autry Museum; Rock, Paper, Scissors for Childsplay Theatre (Best Production, Arizona Theatre Awards); and Day for Night presented at GLOW in Santa Monica and restaged in Poland for the Transatlantyk Film and Music Festival.
Madden is the current Executive Director of the Monterey Museum of Art and the former Executive Director of the Kenan Institute for the Arts. Madden’s newest project Numbered Days will premiere in a podcast produced by The Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles next February.