ABSTRACT
Midwinter 2013, and once again the artist-participants in the American Indian theater movement are anxiously looking for ways to create energy and strategies that will keep it alive. This challenged enterprise is not exactly running on empty, but it has slowed to a turtle’s pace, owing to that one major reality that doesn’t seem to be fixable: very meager funding, down to a mere trickle, almost zero from foundations, federal, state, and local governments, and virtually nothing from the tribes, particularly the casino tribes. This has led directly to fewer productions and smaller audiences, as well as to sustainability challenges among the few existing companies and groups. Meanwhile, there is always the waiting and hoping for something big to happen that will boost morale and galvanize everybody’s creative and productive juices.
