Fundraiser to bring cultural play to AFN this fall

ALASKA NEWSPAPERS

May 15, 2008 at 10:34AM AKST

A fundraising effort is under way to help bring an Alaska Native play from Fairbanks to Anchorage for performances at the Alaska Federation of Native convention in October.
The play, “The Winter Bear,” opens on May 22 with performances through May 24 at Salisbury Theatre in the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Fine Arts Complex.

A fictional account, the play is nonetheless based on a real main character, Sidney Charles Huntington, a Koyukon elder from Galena.

A Doyon Management Training group is partnering to provide fundraising opportunities for the production with plans to reach and teach a larger audience of Alaskan indigenous cultures, according to Doyon officials.

“I’ve learned some new things that make me appreciate my culture even more through working with this play and the life of Sidney Huntington,” said Elias Saylor, who plays the part of Duane “Shadow” David, a troubled 16-year-old Athabascan, who is sentenced to cut wood for Huntington for a winter.

The play explores the actual events of Huntington’s life through his fictional interaction with the contemporary teenager. In the process of coping with their own lives, the elderly man and the young man discover that in spite of their differences their Athabascan culture binds them.

When a winter bear, a grizzly that has been disturbed during hibernation, threatens the village, the two work together to hunt the bear in the old Athabascan way.

About 30 students at Effie Kokrine Charter School, a Fairbanks public school with a focus on Athabascan culture, are receiving college credit for acting in and assisting with all technical aspects of the play.

Community members are also involved as actors, technical advisors and mentors to the Effie Kokrine students.

“For instance, Frank Yaska, an actor with Athabascan roots who plays Sidney Huntington, is helping the students with stage movement, voice and diction,” said Wesley Roberts Dalton, the director, who has a Tlingit and Athabascan background.
First-time actor Mark Frank, who plays a disgruntled former Village Public Safety Officer, explains that the goal behind the program is to educate the community about Alaska Native history and culture and to train Alaska Native students in all aspects of theater.

The idea came out of a brainstorming session at Diigi Naii, a group of Alaska Native men who meet to come up with innovative ways to promote their culture, especially to young, at-risk men.

Denakkanaaga Inc., an elders program serving the Interior, partnered with the group since its mission is to promote the interests of elders and youth. They received a grant from First Alaskans Institute to launch the “Broadway for Natives” program at Effie Kokrine Charter School.

“We wanted to begin this unique collaboration with a play that showcases our Native culture. That’s why we turned to ‘Shadows on the Koyukuk,’ Sidney Huntington’s autobiography as told to Jim Rearden,” said Matthew Stevens, the producer.

Fairbanks playwright Anne Hanley, a former Alaska writer laureate, wrote the script. She said the script has lessons about such issues as suicide, alcoholism, hopelessness and confusion.

For more information or to donate, go to www.authenticakproductions.com.