Ceremony, Spirituality, and Ritual in Native American Performance: A Creative Notebook

Drama. Native American Studies. Performing Arts. Approaching Native American theater as ceremonial performance comprised of centuries-old tribal traditions and aesthetic concepts, Hanay Geiogamah combines his thirty-five years of creative and experimental work and research in Native theater to illuminate the elements of myth, spirituality, and ceremony and their integration into dramatic performances. Specific observations on how ritual is constructed and activated are presented along with selected examples of the process from recent native theater works. Other topics include spirituality as the basis for dramatic text, the techniques of the shaman as director, and the creative process of integration.