Arts & Entertainment

'Pocahontas' Provokes Protest

An opera featured at the Burnsville Performing Arts Center sparked controversy after Native Americans protested the absence of Natives in the production.

For those who attended the opera “Pocahontas” this past Saturday, the real action began shortly after the curtain went down. At a post-show discussion, passions flared during a debate around the question: Does art honor the cultural heritage of Native Americans, if created, directed and performed by non-Native people?

The answer is yes, according to Craig Fields, the general artistic director of the Duluth Festival Opera, the company that created “Pocahontas” and brought it to the .

Native Americans in attendance vigorously disagreed. Some were angry that no native actors had been used for the principal parts. Many others found the characters stereotyped. For still others, the story of Pocahontas itself is problematic.

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Saturday’s performance was one of a handful performed throughout Minnesota in the last month. The opera was commissioned by the Virginia Arts Festival to celebrate Jamestown’s 400-year anniversary. It premiered in 2007.

The opera, written by Burnsville composer Linda Tutas Haugen and librettist Joan Vail Thorne, follows a non-linear course that begins and ends at Pocahontas’ deathbed. In the intervening scenes, the opera touches on the first meeting between the English and Pocahontas’ father, Powhatan, as well as their tenuous friendship, the ensuing conflict after the relationship disintegrates and acts of brutality on both sides. However, Pocahontas’ personal life often takes center stage. In relatively quick succession, she is kidnapped and ransomed by the English, but soon falls in love with one of her captors, John Rolfe. The two marry and Pocahontas accepts Christianity. The couple voyages to England, where she is presented to the royal court.

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Literature produced by the company claims the intent of the opera is using the historical record to “de-bunk the myths and legendary half-truths that surround the name of Pocahontas.”

“I understand why Native Americans could be concerned about this piece,” Fields told the crowd gathered after Saturday's performance. “We wanted to take this woman’s besmirched and demeaned reputation and set the record straight.”

However, the company is also careful to offer the disclaimer that they are telling a “story”—not history.

In any case, Fields said he hoped the production would open the audiences’ mind to the real pain and suffering that resulted from the colonization of North America.

“Those of us that are not (Native American) need to think very clearly about that,” Fields said. “I think this piece gets that across. In doing this, we hope to honor the heritage of Native Americans.” 

Actual Native Americans in the audience were short on praise, though some said they recognized the company’s intentions were good.

“You got the name right this time,” said Sandy White Hawk, wryly referring to the widespread misconception that Pocahontas and John Smith, not Rolfe, were in a relationship. “I wanted to like it more than I did. Your intention was sincere. I really believe that.”

Officials with the company insisted that the dearth of native actors was not an intentional slight, but a consequence of the relatively small pool of talent available. As one actor explained, opera singers are a bit like gymnasts: Both skills require years of training. Others with the company added that traditionally opera has been "ethnic blind," with an eye to matching a voice to a part.

They also insisted that the DFO had consulted with members of the Native American community, who gave the opera a thumbs up. One was Nicole Ammesmaki, a member of the Fond du Lac people and a dancer in the show, who said the cast and crew had asked for her opinion.

“I was very honored to be asked to be in this show. I felt no disrespect. If I felt in any way conflicted about it, I wouldn’t be here," Ammesmaki said. "I can’t believe that you’re up here making people cry.”

Nevertheless, White Hawk and other protesters contended that the production was rife with stereotyped images of Native Americans.

“The way the priest spoke was straight out of a 30’s or 40’s movie. The problem with these stereotypes is that they keep us stuck in the past. To us you made him sound stupid,” said White Hawk, a Rosebud Sioux.

For Rhiana Yazzie the issue is the story of Pocahontas itself. At the discussion, Yazzie said the tale of the alleged love affair between Pocahontas and Rolfe supports colonialist attitudes and the romanticization of Native Americans.

After the show, Yazzie elaborated on her position.

“The author got it right that she’d married John Rolfe, but it's still the exact same story. She still falls in love with an Englishman and assimilates in a very pleasing way to the dominant culture,” said Yazzie, who is a member of the Navajo Nation and the artistic director of New Native Theatre in Minneapolis. "The composers said at a pre-show talk that their hope would be to set the record straight. (This opera) only does that in that they get the right white male love interest. In every other way, they haven’t challenged the narrative at all."

Though many European Americans find the story touching, Yazzie described it as implausible, given Pocahontas' duress after being kidnapped and imprisoned. Yazzie's thoughts were echoed by Karenne Wood, director of the Virginia Indian Heritage Program and a member of the Monacan Indian Nation. Wood remembered the production's debut in Virginia.

"I think (the Pocahontas "love story") is compelling to non-Native people because it reinforces the idea that they were destined to win this land. They see Pocahontas as this beautiful woman who recognizes the superiority of their ideas," Wood said. "She was probably trying to broker a peace (when she married Rolfe). I think she was in a very difficult place."

Tutas Haugen told those at the Burnsville Performing Arts Center she was caught off guard by criticism from the Native American community in Minnesota, given the warm reception at the opera's debut in Virginia.

"It was well-received. The Native American community felt that it honored their story," Tutas Haugen said. "I was very surprised when people were offended by it (in Minnesota). My intent in writing it was to bring people together.”

Wood said few of those in the audience at the Virginia debut were of Native origin. Their numbers are small. Since the arrival of the English in 1607, the community surrounding Powhatan has diminished from over 20,000 to just several thousand, Wood said. Some tribes count fewer than 200 members. 

A number of Virginia tribes have yet to be recognized by the federal government, in part because of the state's racist legacy. The lineage of many Native Americans in Virginia has been obscured by the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which was in effect until the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1967. The act forbade intermarriage between races, which were defined as "White" and "colored," the latter of which included anyone with "one drop" of non-white blood. The category "Indian" largely ceased to exist, at least insofar as the state's bureaucracy was concerned. A special "Pocahontas clause" was added in to appease wealthy Virginians who claimed to be her descendants, who would have been considered "colored" if they had not been given this exception.

Yazzie argued that the ultimate fate of Native Americans in Virginia and across the U.S. is also obscured by the opera, which ends with the intonation that Pocahontas and her people will live on in her children and their descendants.

"It was the 'Lion King' ending — the 'circle of life' — which is another distortion of the facts," Yazzie said.

However heated the debate, all agreed that the show succeeded in one respect: The opera stirred up a tense but lively debate about the nature of art and whether it can be used to bridge bitter cultural divides. In this case, some present felt the discussion itself proved that it could, even if the show itself was called into serious question.

"I don’t know what will come out of it but I felt good about the conversation. That was pretty remarkable that it happened," said White Hawk, a Rosebud Sioux.  "I felt they were listening."

For Fields, the feeling was mutual.

"I felt the same way," Fields added. "Hearing their opinions about the piece was enlightening and very useful. It makes me want to continue a dialogue about how the arts can be a tool."

He said he heard their message—that a show about Native issues should have ample Native involvement—loud and clear. In the future, Fields said, the Duluth Festival Opera would strive to have direct involvement from Native American artists from the beginning of the creative process to the last flicker of the footlights. 


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