Up and Down The River

HARTBEAT ENSEMBLE PRESENTS

UP AND DOWN THE RIVER

Co-written by Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel and Madeline Sayet, Up and Down the River is a series of five short plays that speak to the up and down struggles of Mohegan leaders from 17th-20th centuries, along the river we call home. Each story offers a glimpse into a way of seeing the world, a time in history, and the sacrifices all Mohegans had to make to preserve the future of the Mohegan Nation. Up and Down the River is available to stream in a limited engagement.  

Co-written by Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel and Madeline Sayet

Directed by Madeline Sayet

Sound Design by Rory Stitt

Conceptualized and produced by Madeline Sayet

Stage Managed by Amanda Luke 

Up and Down The River is a streamed radio drama event that premieres the week of Nov. 22 and will be made available on-demand to ticket holders for free until the end of the year.

Running Time: A 5-part series that runs a total of 60-minutes.

MEET THE PLAYWRIGHTS:

Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel (co-writer) grew up in Mohegan, Connecticut, where she was trained in tribal oral tradition, traditional lifeways, and spiritual beliefs by her great-aunt and great uncle, Medicine Woman Gladys Tantaquidgeon and Chief Harold Tantaquidgeon. From a young age, she gave tours at the family’s Tantaquidgeon Museum (now owned and operated by the Mohegan Tribe). Melissa earned a B.S.F.S. in history/diplomacy from Georgetown University, an M.A. in history from the University of Connecticut and an M.F.A. from Fairfield University in creative writing. As a young adult, she worked as Mohegan Federal Recognition Coordinator, researching and organizing her tribe’s successful bid for federal acknowledgment. She was appointed Tribal Historian in 1991 and Medicine Woman in 2008. This year, she was a finalist in Eugene O’Neill Theatre's National Playwright’s Conference for her play “Flying Bird’s Diary.” That play was also a selection for the Oklahoma Indigenous Theatre’s 2020 New Native Play Festival, a finalist for Storyline’s Vitruvian Award, and a winner in the New York Screenplay Contest’s stage play category.  She has also written for film, receiving an Emmy for her work on the movie, “The Mark of Uncas,” as well as numerous screenwriting awards. Tantaquidgeon Zobel’s books include the biography Medicine Trail: The Life and Lessons of Gladys Tantaquidgeon (University of Arizona Press, 2000) and the mystery Wabanaki Blues (Poisoned Pen Press, 2015). Her goal is to share the enduring traditions, humor, challenges, joys, and spirit of historic and contemporary Native New England.

Madeline Sayet (co-writer, director, producer) is a citizen of the Mohegan Tribe and the Executive Director of the Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program (YIPAP). For her work as a director, writer, and performer she has been honored as a Forbes 30 Under 30 in Hollywood & Entertainment, TED Fellow, MIT Media Lab Director’s Fellow, National Directing Fellow, Drama League Director-In-Residence, NCAIED Native American 40 Under 40, and a recipient of The White House Champion of Change Award from President Obama. She is known throughout the field for her work promoting indigenous voices and decolonizing systems. She recently premiered here solo performance piece Where We Belong at Shakespeare's Globe and Richmix in London, and it will be a part of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company's coming season. Recent directing work includes: Staged at Home: a Virtual Benefit Concert (Long Wharf Theatre), Midsummer Night's Dream (South Dakota Shakespeare), Henry IV (Connecticut Repertory Theatre), Whale Song (Perseverance Theatre), She Kills Monsters (Connecticut Repertory Theatre), As You Like It (Delaware Shakespeare), The Winter’s Tale (Amerinda/HERE Arts), Poppea (Krannert Center, Illinois), The Magic Flute (Glimmerglass), Macbeth (NYC Parks), Miss Lead (59e59).  www.madelinesayet.com 

Up and Down the River is supported in part by the New England Foundation for the Arts through the New England Arts Resilience Fund, part of the United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund, an initiative of the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with major funding from the federal CARES Act from the National Endowment for the Arts