Art imitated life after a June 19
performance of “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,” a production of
the Hennepin Theatre Trust that portrays the exploits of the U.S.
president responsible for the Trail of Tears.
In the run up to the performance, New
Native Theatre’s Rhiana Yazzie organized a protest of the musical
after she wrote an open letter about the play. In the letter, she
decried the organization’s choice of subject matter, “I think it
was an unfortunate choice for Minneapolis Musical Theatre to produce
this play and I have no doubt they played into the same disconnect
the authors did, not considering the effect it could have on real
people or that Native Americans might actually be audience members.”
In the production, references to
Native American culture included the joke, “Tell me what’s the
difference between a little homosexual Indian boy and George
Washington? Besides the fact you’d murder either of them without
thinking twice?" In addition, Yazzie objected to the fact that
Native characters were portrayed by non-Native actors who were
written as stoic and speaking in a halting manner. Additional
references to Native culture included the character of Andrew Jackson
(played by Philip C. Matthews), disparaging Native art and music with
a declarative, “Your music sucks.”
After initial protest attempts, Yazzie
was then invited to watch what she believed to be a heavily-edited
version of the musical that was to be performed for the remainder of
the production’s run. But in a talk-back session after the June 19
performance, which included Yazzie and University of Minnesota
history professor David Chang, Minneapolis Music Theatre artistic
director Steven Meerdink said the show was shown in its entirety.
“That was an error with an actor
remembering lines, we were dealing with an awful lot that opening
weekend with an actor being hurt. I did not touch the script,”
Meerdink said. When Yazzie expressed her disappointment, he defended
the non-profit’s position as artistic freedom. “I respect your
opinion, however, when I think that when I first got ahold of the
script, I viewed this not as a retelling of an exact history and not
a slam, degradation, of the Native American population. I was looking
at the show more as a political statement of politics in general.”
Chang presented a counterpoint,
saying, “Respect is a process and not simply a word said after the
fact. Respect is something that’s shown through speaking with someone
when the time has come to speak and after when all decisions have
been made.” To which, Meerdink said, “As an artist, I don’t have
a right to do what I want to do on stage? That’s my second amendment
right [sic].”
Yazzie expressed her disappointment in
the unedited musical’s performance because of what she and other
Native audience members believed to be the continued exclusion of
perspective.
“The sad part, though, is that it’s
a party of the genocide of my people and when you actually live that
and you actually survive that – I don’t know, I hope and what I was
actually kind of thankful for when I saw that version was that,
‘Minneapolis gets Native people. Because we work with Native people,
we have 11 reservations here, our friends are Native people and we
wouldn’t put up with saying those things about Native people.’ And
so, I actually was really happy to see that version,” Yazzie said.
“All I really wanted to say was that
reaching out to the Native community and Native artists would have
enriched this production. Because ultimately if the point is to talk
about the history of what happened to Native people, wouldn’t it be
lovely to get to know them in the process?”
“Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” ran
at the New Century Theatre from June 6-29. It was written by Michael
Friedman and Alex Timbers, directed by Steven Meerdink.
PHOTO: New Native Theatre’s Rhiana
Yazzie (center) explains the position that “Bloody Bloody Andrew
Jackson” revels in its stereotypical portrayal of Native American
history to Steven Meerdink (left) as University of Minnesota history
professor David Chang (right) listens. [Photo by Alfred Walking Bull]