The Intertribal Theatre Project
Year One in Kayenta Arizona: ITP Establishes the First Permanent Theatre on the Navajo Reservation
The old Carquest building in Kayenta at the foot of Weatherill Heights near the Best Western motel is now home to something special after being closed for years. Beau Benally, a recent theatre graduate from Ft. Lewis College, hopes to take Kayenta's cultural life to new heights, by managing a theatre facility in Monument Valley. The building, once owned by his grandfather, was passed down to his father, and now to him and he knows exactly what he can do with it. In January of 2002, once he knew he could use the building, Beau enlisted the aid of his professor and advisor at Fort Lewis college, Paul Rathbun. Dr. Rathbun agreed to design and finance the remodeling of the CarQuest building, provided the Intertribal Theatre Project could use the building as a permanent base of operations.
Rathbun and Benally, along with other members of the Intertribal Theatre Project, worked on the delapidated and litter-filled building from May though July, cleaning and painting inside and out, and building a stage where they planned on performing Native American tales.
After getting permission to work on the theatre, they took the ceiling panels out and sealed the building virtually air tight, so as to not get dust in the building. Inside the room with the stage they set up bleachers, and incorporated the flats and staging materials Dr. Rathbun built himself for ITP productions in the Four Corners area. These flats portray scenes from Monument Valley, painted by students at Fort Lewis College. Dr. Rathbun also designed and constructed simple lighting structures, hanging from the exposed rafters above the stage. After paying for the materials and tools necessary for remodeling, as well as paying for materials for a large fence behind the building, rental of an apartment for the company members, and labor costs, Dr. Rathbun realized his savings would not last much longer; he and Beau recruited local craftsmen and members of Beau's family to help with the electricity and plumbing, and even hired locals to help clean up and haul truckloads of trash to the dump.
Another member of the company, Sahar Khadjenoury, suggested they cover the front of the run down looking building with weathered wood and materials to make it look like an old western town, much as in Taos New Mexico. The company immediately began the project, hoping these additions would attract patrons to the "first established Native American theatre on the Navajo Reservation," as Benally describes it. This building is located in an older, less commercialized area of Kayenta and the Benally family hopes this theatre will reestablish this end of town and attract more tourists since most of the businesses in Kayenta are located two miles away.
Once the theatre, with outside and inside stages, as well as a costume shop, wood shop, and properties room were set up, the Benallys soon realized that they do not need the Intertribal Theatre Project in order to develop their property, and after a wonderful first season in the building, ITP moved on in search of a new permanent 'home.'
Now that he has a theatre all to himself, Beau hopes to copy and continue the work he helped with in Dr. Rathbun's children's theatre class and with ITP the student club at Fort Lewis College, and he has two plays he thinks can do very well. Both plays were developed by the Intertribal Theatre Project, but as traditional narratives, cannot be 'owned' by anyone. Besides, the Benally theatre is actually ITP's first 'spin-off,' as a member of the company breaks out on his own, building on the time and investment of the company that sponsored and trained him during his early theatrical efforts.
The first show Beau hopes to re-stage is "Coyote Tails" adapted word-for-word from a book by Morning Dove, an Okanogan story-teller. He helped direct the play two years ago with ITP, when under Dr. Rathbun's Artistic direction and design, it included acting, Native American singing, pow-wow drumming, and dancing. The other play Beau hopes to stage is "Of Coyote and Water Monster" which is an emergence tale (meaning its not quite a creation story, but a story of how some things emerged into the world) set up like a Greek play. When Beau handled the movement direction of the play at FLC, ITP used the story as narrated by Medicine Man and ITP board member Gomo Martinez, and took advantage of Dr. Rathbun's design and maskmaking skills to stage the story as a sand-painting come to life. In the ITP version, characters wear masks that represent Kachina dolls. Benally hopes to use this play as a way to preserve the Navajo culture. Since older, more traditional ways of story telling like sand paintings are slowly disappearing, he hopes to create a new way of passing on culture. "Of Coyote and Water Monster" is a way he can convert a sand painting "from its sacred form to an art form," Benally says. "Theatre is the best way of passing a message."
Benally has big plans for his theatre. During the summer, he'll perform shows for the general public and during the school year, once he develops a theatre company in the mold of ITP, he hopes to tour to different schools on and off the reservation to spread his culture and message. Beau plans on being in Kayenta for at least five years before all these can be accomplished. In the big picture he hopes to travel to New York or take his many talents to international and perform for audiences around the world.
The grand opening of the theatre with ITP was July 12, 2002, at 7:00 pm Mountain time. Paul Rathbun also managed publicity for the big event with fliers, brochures, an email list, and this website, http://www.intertribaltheatre.com. For more information on performances and shows, call the toll-free number: 1-888-270-3947.
Click the links below to view images from the opening night of "Coyote Tails"
|About 50 people showed up that night
|Before the show started, the Golden Eagle band entertained
| The drummer of the band, William Benally
| Beau Benally introduces the show
| Beau the Skunk in "How Skunk got His Tail"
| Valencia Blackhorse and Lyndsey Benally as Bluebird and Bluejay in "Coyote Juggles his Eyes"
| Leticia Johnson as the Angry Tree in "Juggles"
| Beau the Bunny in "How Turtle got his Tail"
| Sahar Khadjenoury as Turtle from "How Turtle got His, uh, HER Tail"
| William Benally as Raven from "Juggles"
| William and Paul as Ravens teasing Coyote, who is wearing Pheasant's skin in "Juggles."
| Sahar as Pheasant, Grandmother to Bluebird and Bluejay
