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This Message Is Reprinted Under The Fair Use
Doctrine Of International Copyright Law:
_http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html_
(http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html)
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FROM: INDIAN COUNTRY TODAY NEWSPAPER
_http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096411261_
(http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096411261)
New York community fosters show biz careers
(javascript:PrintWindow();) Posted: July 18, 2005 by: _Jim Adams_
(http://www.indiancountry.com/author.cfm?id=33) / Indian Country Today
_Click to Enlarge_ (http://www.indiancountry.com/pix/1096411261_large.jpg)
(http://www.indiancountry.com/pix/1096411261_large.jpg) Photo courtesy
National Museum of the American Indian/Claudio Miranda -- Actress Alex Rice
in the role of Amanda Cook, caught between worlds in the steel and glass
canyons of Wall Street in the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American
Indian's signature film, ''A Thousand Roads.'' NEW YORK - From the Mohawk
ironworkers who raised much of the skyline to the thriving indigenous expatriates
from Latin America, urban Indians have left their mark on the Big Apple. But
Natives from around the country are coming here to break into a new field - the
performing arts.
Following the inspiration of Maria Tallchief, the Osage prima ballerina who
put George Balanchine's New York City Ballet on the map, young dancers have
come from Navajoland and the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota to train
and perform with New York troupes. And some actors and actresses, with the
help of the local community, are cracking the hardest nut of all: national
television drama.
The focus of much New York Native life is the American Indian Community
House in lower Manhattan. It provides medical and social programs; and, in
response to the influx of show biz hopefuls, it has established a kind of central
casting service, with some outstanding successes.
The AICH Performing Arts Department, run by Jim Cyrus, maintains a roster of
''performing and allied artists'' that receives frequent calls from major
production companies. It produces an annual Native American Actors Showcase in
the fall that is attended by agents, casting directors and other theater
professionals. It even offers a performing arts stipend of up to $250. The
program gave a start to Irene Bedard, Sheila Tousey and Greg Zaragoza, among
others.
Every month the Community House Bulletin runs a section called ''Bravo,''
compiled by Cyrus, that lists appearances by talent helped along by the AICH.
As updated by his assistant, Ronice Mullins, it's an impressive list.
The Community House appears to have a special connection with one of the
strongest franchises on television, Dick Wolf's ''Law and Order'' series. The
well-known Stockbridge-Munsee/Menominee actress Sheila Tousey has made at least
10 appearances on ''Law and Order,'' nine as a judge on the ''Special
Victims Unit'' spin-off and one on the flagship ''Criminal Intent.'' (Tousey was a
member of the New York community when she did graduate work at New York
University's Tisch School of the Arts.)
''Law and Order'' turns
regularly to the Community House for extras.
Its latest spin-off, ''Trial by Jury,'' used Tiana Sunshine Silva in a
recent episode. She has gone on to appearances in the Nicole Kidman film ''The
Interpreter'' and Will Smith's ''First Last Kiss.''
Candece Tarpley appeared with Tousey on ''Special Victims Unit.'' The series
has also hired Community House regulars Doskie Vinson, Darren Vinson,
Hadahsa Colon, Javier Colon, Taina Landron and Adina Bauman.
Steven Spielberg's ''Into the West'' series, on the TNT cable channel, also
draws on Community House talent. Kalani Queypo plays White Bird and Chaske
Spencer is Voices that Carry.
The Community House also provided the Native extras for the infamous
''Columbus Day'' episode of ''The Sopranos,'' which first aired in September 2002.
HBO's merry crew of mobsters defended their national hero against Indian
protesters, and lost. The activists, who were by and large uncredited, included
Irma-Estel LaGuerre as Doski, Sami Sargent and Chaske Spencer.
That episode also introduced Mohawk beauty Alex Rice as Native lawyer Maggie
Dornan. She later turned in two award-winning performances as Janet Pete in
the television movies ''Coyote Waits'' and ''A Thief in Time,'' based on the
Tony Hillerman novels set on the Navajo reservations. Although she was born
on the Kahnawake Reserve in Canada and is now based in Los Angeles, Rice spent
much of her childhood in the Mohawk ironworkers' community in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Although Rice is not on the current AICH roster, another rising star has
direct ties to the Community House. The very busy Rosario Dawson has played the
salvation of the universe (or at least her home planet) in ''Men in Black
II'' and Queen Roxanne of Macedonia, mother of Alexander the Great, in Oliver
Stone's ''Alexander.'' She starred in the comic book-based ''Sin City''
earlier this year, and has at least three more movies in production or ready for
release.
Dawson was born in New York in 1979 with a very contemporary ethnic mix of
black, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Irish and American Indian. Her grandmother, noted
Mullins of the AICH, ''is a Community [House] member, Apache and Seminole.''
The AICH supports people who write plays and screenplays as well. On the
second Sunday of each month through September, Dawn Jamieson, AICH's first vice
chairman, will present a series of readings from scripts in development.
Earlier this spring she taught an acting class along with Tyree Giroux. Both
these activities used the performance space, the Circle, on the eighth floor of
the building now housing the AICH.
The future of this space is now in doubt, since according to the latest
Community Bulletin, the building's owner plans to sell it for conversion to
residences. On top of its perennial financial pressures, the Community House is
now looking for a new location. Wherever it lands, however, it will be taking a
vigorous artistic life along with it.
This Message Is Reprinted Under The Fair Use
Doctrine Of International Copyright Law:
_http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html_
(http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html)
************************************************** ************
FROM: INDIAN COUNTRY TODAY NEWSPAPER
_http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096411261_
(http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096411261)
New York community fosters show biz careers
(javascript:PrintWindow();) Posted: July 18, 2005 by: _Jim Adams_
(http://www.indiancountry.com/author.cfm?id=33) / Indian Country Today
_Click to Enlarge_ (http://www.indiancountry.com/pix/1096411261_large.jpg)
(http://www.indiancountry.com/pix/1096411261_large.jpg) Photo courtesy
National Museum of the American Indian/Claudio Miranda -- Actress Alex Rice
in the role of Amanda Cook, caught between worlds in the steel and glass
canyons of Wall Street in the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American
Indian's signature film, ''A Thousand Roads.'' NEW YORK - From the Mohawk
ironworkers who raised much of the skyline to the thriving indigenous expatriates
from Latin America, urban Indians have left their mark on the Big Apple. But
Natives from around the country are coming here to break into a new field - the
performing arts.
Following the inspiration of Maria Tallchief, the Osage prima ballerina who
put George Balanchine's New York City Ballet on the map, young dancers have
come from Navajoland and the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota to train
and perform with New York troupes. And some actors and actresses, with the
help of the local community, are cracking the hardest nut of all: national
television drama.
The focus of much New York Native life is the American Indian Community
House in lower Manhattan. It provides medical and social programs; and, in
response to the influx of show biz hopefuls, it has established a kind of central
casting service, with some outstanding successes.
The AICH Performing Arts Department, run by Jim Cyrus, maintains a roster of
''performing and allied artists'' that receives frequent calls from major
production companies. It produces an annual Native American Actors Showcase in
the fall that is attended by agents, casting directors and other theater
professionals. It even offers a performing arts stipend of up to $250. The
program gave a start to Irene Bedard, Sheila Tousey and Greg Zaragoza, among
others.
Every month the Community House Bulletin runs a section called ''Bravo,''
compiled by Cyrus, that lists appearances by talent helped along by the AICH.
As updated by his assistant, Ronice Mullins, it's an impressive list.
The Community House appears to have a special connection with one of the
strongest franchises on television, Dick Wolf's ''Law and Order'' series. The
well-known Stockbridge-Munsee/Menominee actress Sheila Tousey has made at least
10 appearances on ''Law and Order,'' nine as a judge on the ''Special
Victims Unit'' spin-off and one on the flagship ''Criminal Intent.'' (Tousey was a
member of the New York community when she did graduate work at New York
University's Tisch School of the Arts.)
''Law and Order'' turns
regularly to the Community House for extras.
Its latest spin-off, ''Trial by Jury,'' used Tiana Sunshine Silva in a
recent episode. She has gone on to appearances in the Nicole Kidman film ''The
Interpreter'' and Will Smith's ''First Last Kiss.''
Candece Tarpley appeared with Tousey on ''Special Victims Unit.'' The series
has also hired Community House regulars Doskie Vinson, Darren Vinson,
Hadahsa Colon, Javier Colon, Taina Landron and Adina Bauman.
Steven Spielberg's ''Into the West'' series, on the TNT cable channel, also
draws on Community House talent. Kalani Queypo plays White Bird and Chaske
Spencer is Voices that Carry.
The Community House also provided the Native extras for the infamous
''Columbus Day'' episode of ''The Sopranos,'' which first aired in September 2002.
HBO's merry crew of mobsters defended their national hero against Indian
protesters, and lost. The activists, who were by and large uncredited, included
Irma-Estel LaGuerre as Doski, Sami Sargent and Chaske Spencer.
That episode also introduced Mohawk beauty Alex Rice as Native lawyer Maggie
Dornan. She later turned in two award-winning performances as Janet Pete in
the television movies ''Coyote Waits'' and ''A Thief in Time,'' based on the
Tony Hillerman novels set on the Navajo reservations. Although she was born
on the Kahnawake Reserve in Canada and is now based in Los Angeles, Rice spent
much of her childhood in the Mohawk ironworkers' community in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Although Rice is not on the current AICH roster, another rising star has
direct ties to the Community House. The very busy Rosario Dawson has played the
salvation of the universe (or at least her home planet) in ''Men in Black
II'' and Queen Roxanne of Macedonia, mother of Alexander the Great, in Oliver
Stone's ''Alexander.'' She starred in the comic book-based ''Sin City''
earlier this year, and has at least three more movies in production or ready for
release.
Dawson was born in New York in 1979 with a very contemporary ethnic mix of
black, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Irish and American Indian. Her grandmother, noted
Mullins of the AICH, ''is a Community [House] member, Apache and Seminole.''
The AICH supports people who write plays and screenplays as well. On the
second Sunday of each month through September, Dawn Jamieson, AICH's first vice
chairman, will present a series of readings from scripts in development.
Earlier this spring she taught an acting class along with Tyree Giroux. Both
these activities used the performance space, the Circle, on the eighth floor of
the building now housing the AICH.
The future of this space is now in doubt, since according to the latest
Community Bulletin, the building's owner plans to sell it for conversion to
residences. On top of its perennial financial pressures, the Community House is
now looking for a new location. Wherever it lands, however, it will be taking a
vigorous artistic life along with it.
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