Tipi Tales from the Stoop
A Workshop Production
Written & Performed by Murielle Borst Tarrant (Kuna/Rappahannock)| Directed by Steven Sapp & Mildred Ruiz-Sapp
Celebrating Native American Heritage Month
Award-winning playwright and performer Murielle Borst-Tarrant (Kuna/Rappahannock) tells her intoxicating tale of life as a child, actress in a mafia-a run neighborhood in Brooklyn in the 70’s. She shares her family’s historical trauma and what it was like to be raised by her grandmother from a different time while navigating her parents activist-driven marriage. She talks about growing up in rehearsal rooms, theater wings, and a stint on her own PBS children’s show. She tackles her inner child’s rage and how her family will be able to heal for future generations. This is a story of a Native New Yorker finding performance as her outlet, about persevering with or without the blessing of her ancestors. Named by American Theater Magazine as one of the Most Influential Women in American Theater, Borst-Tarrant is the Artistic Director of Safe Harbors NYC.
My family first came to New York City in the late 1800’s from Virginia and bought a house in Brooklyn raising four generations. This story is about my family’s blood flow that is here on this land of New York City. How we as a family had to keep tradition alive. The survival of genocide, relocation, and the outlaw by the United States Government of practicing our cultural traditions. This story is about my family’s triumph of will, dysfunction, & historical trauma through laughter & performance. My personal tapestry of stories about being brought up in a Brooklyn Mafia run neighborhood when we were the only Natives on the block. One of many Tipi Tales of the city.
Murielle Borst-Tarrant is an author, playwright, director, producer, cultural artist, educator, and human rights activist. She studied acting at HB STUDIOS. She is also a graduate of Long Island University, Southampton College Theatre Program. She studied and interned with Spiderwoman Theatre and is a second generation artist of that company that was founded by her mother Muriel Miguel. She also works on the deconstructing of methods of the arts in Native communities in urban areas across the country and in the New York City education system. She consults many urban and non- urban universities on the development on Native theater programming. Nominated for the Rockefeller grant in 2001, won a Native Heart Award and was the only Native American Woman to have her work to be selected by the Olympic Games in Sydney Australia at the Sydney Opera House for her one woman show “ More than Feathers and Beads”. She served internationally as the Special Assistant to the North American Regional Representative to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues which one of her mandates was arts and culture. Directed Muriel Miquel “Red Mother” nationally and Internationally. Keynote Speaker for the Indigenous Women’s Symposium at Trent University. Global Indigenous Woman’s Caucus Chair ( North America ) in 2013 to May of 2014. Selected to speak on Repetition, Tradition and Change: Native oral history and contemporary art practice in hostel post- colonial times at the International Conference at the Muthesius Academy of Art in Kiel Germany and the Norwegian Theater Academy. She is the Artistic Director of Safe Harbors NYC. Native Consultant for Regional Tony award winner LaMaMa Experimental Theatre for their Indigenous Initiative. She produced, written and directed “Don’t Feed the Indians- A Divine Comedy Pageant!” at LaMaMa Theatre which was a recipient of the NEFA grant. She was named in American Theater Magazine as one of the most influential woman in American theater. She has served as Assistant Professor of the practice at Brown University BAI INTITATIVE from spring 2022-2024 . Murielle Borst Tarrant is a 6 year Playwright-in-Residence at La Mama Experimental Theatre Club in New York City through the National Playwright Residency Program funded by the Mellon Foundation.
La MaMa Indigenous Initiative
The La MaMa Indigenous Initiative aims to provide a platform for Indigenous arts and culture, both nationally and worldwide. La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club is committed to supporting ethnic diversity, cultural pluralism, and marginalized identities in the arts. The Initiative curates original Indigenous programming, including workshops, markets, and theatrical productions, to elevate the voices and artistic works of Native communities both nationally and internationally.