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Rhiana Yazzie’s “Ady” opens at Pangea World Theater

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A Lee Miller photograph of surrealist artists that includes a dancer from the West Indies, naked to the waist, is the jumping off place for the new play written by local playwright Rhiana Yazzie (Navajo).
Ady relates the mostly unknown story of the surrealist muse Adrienne Fidelin. According to Yazzie, “Ady is the story of a woman that was lost to history. Ady Fidelin was a dancer from the island of Guadeloupe who dated surrealist photographer, Man Ray in the late 1930’s through 1941 when they were eventually separated by WWII. The two of them were surrounded by the great artists of their time including Picasso, Lee Miller, Leonora Carrington, Max Ernst and others. …Ady’s story was lost in the narratives that made those around her great.”
Pangea commissionned and supported the evolution of “Ady” over the past two years. The play is directed by Resident Director Hayley Finn and designed by the team of Mike Wangen as the lighting designer, Emily Johnson as the choreographer, Pramila Vasudevan as the Media artist, Anton Jones as the Sound Designer, Jesse West as the Set Designer and Carolyn Lee Anderson as the Visula Artist. Ady has also been developed through the New York Public Theater’s New Work Now! and the Playwrights’ Center Ruth Easton Lab.
Finn said of the play, “Combining dance and image, history and imagination ADY is a thought provoking journey across time. I am thrilled to be directing Rhiana Yazzie’s beautiful and unique story and to share it with the Twin Cities community.”
Yazzie is a Navajo playwright originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico. This year Yazzie is a Playwrights’ Center Jerome Fellow for the second time since 2006. She is also a Playwrights’ Center Core Writer and has been jointly commissioned by the Ashland Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the NY Public Theater to write a play for American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle.
Yazzie ’s plays have been seen on the stages of SteppingStone Theatre for Youth Development, Teatro del Pueblo, and Mixed Blood Theatre. She is also an award-winning writer of plays for radio and for youth. Her most recent Theatre for Young Audiences play produced by La Jolla Playhouse, Chile Pod, toured to 17,500 children in Southern California.
Pangea World Theater brings artists from very diverse backgrounds and ethnicities together to create art for a multiracial audience.
Ady is the final show of the Alternate Visions Festival which runs June 10 –July 25. Ady runs July 9-25. Starting time is 7:30 pm at the Playwrights’ Center, 2301 East Franklin Ave., Minneapolis. General admission is $15. For tickets, visit www.pangeaworltheater.org.

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The Circle is a nonprofit newsroom with no tribal affiliation, no corporate ownership, and no paywall. Independent Native journalism depends on reader support.

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