"Tahkox: Indigenous Stages" Launch of a New Online Journal

"Tahkox: Indigenous Stages" Launch of a New Online Journal

Thursday, Nov 12th 6:30PM

Join us for the launch of Tahkox: Indigenous Stages, the world’s first interdisciplinary academic journal dedicated primarily to Indigenous authors writing about the theatrical and cultural performance of Indigenous artists and communities around the globe. Published by the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at the CUNY Graduate Center, the journal provides a forum for Indigenous scholarship and cultural performance practices, publishing work in English or in Indigenous languages with English translation. Founded by GC CUNY PhD candidate Opalanietet (Ryan Victor Pierce) and co-founder Frank Hentschker, Tahkox: Indigenous Stages will release its inaugural issue in November 2026. The evening will include a conversation with Opalanietet, Tammy Hailiʻōpua Baker, Pililuaikekaiohilo M. Q. Keala and Frank Hentschker.

Opalanietet (Ryan VIctor Pierce) is a member of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape tribal nation of New Jersey.  Upon graduating from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Opalanietet has performed in workshops and productions at such renown New York theatrical institutions as New Dramatists, LaMaMa E.T.C. and New York City Opera at Lincoln Center.  In November of 2020, Opalanietet made history by giving the first-ever Lenape Land Acknowledgement at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC. In July of 2021, Opalanietet made history again by delivering the opening performance at Lincoln Center after the pandemic with GALLIM’s performance installation, You Are Here. In 2012, Opalanietet founded Eagle Project, a theater company dedicated to exploring the American identity through the performing arts and our Native American heritage, http://www.eagleprojectarts.org.  Through his leadership, Eagle Project has collaborated with and performed at Theatre Row, the Public Theater, and Ashtar Theater in Palestine.  In April of 2020, Eagle Project collaborated with the American Indian Community House of New York City and First Nations Theatre Guild to create Native Theatre Thursdays, a virtual reading series of new Native work. Opalanietet is currently studying for his doctorate in Theatre & Performance Studies at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center, and has been a teacher of Contemporary Indigenous Theatre & Performance at The New School in New York City and SUNY Purchase. His article, “The Natural Landscape of Native Puppetry,” has just been published by the journal, Puppetry International Research (PIR). Opalanietet is the founder and editor INDIGENOUS STAGES, an open access academic journal housed at the Segal Theatre Center.

Tammy Hailiʻōpua Baker (Kanaka Maoli) is a playwright, director, researcher, and educator from Kapaʻa, Kauaʻi whose work is dedicated to the revitalization of Kanaka Maoli moʻolelo (Native Hawaiian history and narratives) through Hawaiian-medium theatre, Hana Keaka. She holds an MFA in Directing from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM) and a PhD in Māori and Indigenous Studies from the University of Waikato in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Hailiʻōpua oversees the Hawaiian Theatre and Playwriting Programs at UHM where she is a co-director of ‘Ahahui Noi‘i No‘eau ‘Ōiwi–Research Institute of Indigenous Performance (ANNO).

Pililuaikekaiohilo M. Q. Keala is from Manaʻe, Molokaʻi but currently resides in Kapālama, Oʻahu with her two daughters and husband. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Hawaiian at Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language in the Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Pili also serves as the Vice Chair on the ʻAha Hoʻokō (Governing Board) of the ʻAha Kauleo (Hawaiian Language Immersion Statewide Consortium). Prior to her current position she was an Assistant Professor in the College of Education at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and has been a secondary kumu for over 15 years in Ka Papahana Kaiapuni, Kamehameha Schools, as well as community education. Dr. Keala’s dissertation work focused on discovering the educational needs of nā moʻo ʻike kuʻuna ʻōiwi Hawaiʻi, Native Hawaiian children raised exclusively in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi through hoʻomana Hawaiʻi with traditional Hawaiian loina and cultural practices. Her research focuses include Kuanaʻike ʻŌiwi Hawaiʻi (Indigenous Hawaiian Worldview), Kaiapuni education, programming and pedagogies, Hawaiian language medium and culture-based education, and traditional Hawaiian pedagogies of learning and teaching.