Founded in 1979, Juneau's Perseverance Theatre is Alaska's only professional theater, with an impressive track record of world premieres, classics, and original works that examine the Alaskan experience. An annual Paul G. Allen Foundation grantee since 1999, Perseverance Theatre has produced works such as Chay Yew and Fabian Obispo's original musical, The Long Season, exploring the challenges Filipino immigrants faced working in Alaskan salmon canneries, and The United States Theatre Project's "columbinus," which examined adolescence and the phenomenon of school shootings.
The Foundation provided a $40,000 grant to support an original Perseverance Theatre production entitled Raven Odyssey. The piece wove together stories of Raven, a figure common to the mythology of virtually every Alaska Native tribe, to create an unprecedented, pan-Alaskan celebration of the state's history and indigenous cultures.
Raven:
He can be a buffoon, but is in love with his own cunning.
He stole the moon, stars, and light and gave them to the creatures of the world—by accident.
He fooled a chief into giving him his daughter, but smelled so bad she ran away.
He brought the gift of water to the earth, but he'll take it back again if you cross him.
He is a trickster, a romantic, a beggar, a powerful shape-shifter.
Perseverance Theatre then-Artistic Director PJ Paparelli conceived the idea of gathering Raven stories from the major Alaska Native cultures and dramatizing them to tell a story of man's journey to self-discovery, as guided by the totemic black bird.
To research the play, Paparelli and the theater's then-director of outreach, Ishmael Hope, made an 8,000-mile trek across the state, visiting the traditional geographic centers of the Aleut, Alutiiq, Yup'ik, Athabascan, Iñupiaq, Tlingit, and Haida peoples. The theater team versed themselves in the disparate Raven stories by recording elders, storytellers, singers, and dancers and then distilling their stories into play format.
The resulting piece honors Alaska's various cultures and regions, highlighting the traditions of each. This multi-disciplinary work is expressed through language, music, dance, visual design, and new media. Performers from every culture represented in the script were cast in the play's ensemble.
Audience reception to the play was tremendous and the theater saw a marked increase in Alaska Native attendance. Many commented that they didn't know Raven was so funny or that Native culture could be lighthearted, while others said it was a spiritual experience.
Co-writer Paparelli said, "We did not want to say that all the Alaska Native people are one big Native people, and all the stories are the same. There's certainly some truth behind us all being connected, but there are very crucial distinctions in each culture. We realized this play was a universal journey to discover identity. More than our names, our skin color, or our art, what ultimately defines our identity? That was the question the piece asked."
"This is a glimpse into the vast wisdom and knowledge we have right here in our state," said co-writer Hope. "It was our job to share these immense gifts with a larger audience. We did it with respect, gratitude, and humility."
Web site: www.perseverancetheatre.org
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Photo credit: Cam Byrnes
Courtesy of Perseverance Theatre
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