The North Star of Native Theatre, New Native Theatre Announces 2026-27 Season
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: info@newnativetheatre.org
Phone: 612-367-7639
Website: www.newnativetheatre.org
October 16, 2026
MINNEAPOLIS/SAINT PAUL, MN — New Native Theatre, the nation’s largest Native-led nonprofit theatre company in the country, announces its 2026-27 season, themed “The North Star of Native Theatre.” Founded in 2009 in the Twin Cities by Rhiana Yazzie, a member of the Navajo Nation, New Native Theatre’s 17th season continues its mission of bringing cultural authenticity about the Native American experience to the stage by presenting a year of mainstage productions, youth programming, new media, and community celebrations reflecting and celebrating the complexity and diversity of contemporary Native America.
New Native Theatre’s 2026–27 season follows Native stories across homelands, generations, and imagination. From their season announcement they say, “We travel north to Alaska, where we move across water, mountains, memory, and home. We look to the sky, where heroes and monsters live alongside the Sun. And we return to our own backyards, where language, culture, and community continue to grow through our workshops, touring productions, and special events.”
Their season kicks off in October by touring a world premiere from last season, The Bird Blind, by Kira Apaachuaq Eckenweiler, to Anchorage, Alaska. The NNT ensemble will share a series of special staged readings of this deeply-rooted drama about kinship, home, and healing with audiences at the Alaska Performing Arts Center in Anchorage, October 22 and 23, 2026.
In December, they will present the Midwest Premiere of Tlingit playwright Frank Henry Kaash Katasse’s drama, Where the Summit Meets the Stars, which is set against the vast landscape of Alaska. The story is grounded in Tlingit culture and carried by music, movement, and ancestral connection, Where the Summit Meets the Stars explores love, loss, parenthood, and the ties between generations. It asks what we inherit, what we carry forward, and how we choose a new path for those who come after us. The play will be produced at Red Eye Theatre in Minneapolis, December 2 to 20, 2026.
In January 2027, NNT will release the podcast Blood Quantum Physics, an audio play that follows three Indigenous women navigating friendship, family, culture, and contemporary Native life with humor and heart. Written by Deanna StandingCloud (Red Lake Ojibwe), Blood Quantum Physics was performed by the NNT ensemble and recorded live at Gremlin Theatre during New Native Theatre’s 15th anniversary season. This podcast will make Native theatre available to listeners everywhere.
Following its premiere at The Kennedy Center in 2025, New Native Theatre brings The Other Children of the Sun to Minnesota for the first time. Written and directed by NNT’s Artistic Director, Rhiana Yazzie, the story takes place high above the earth, in the house of the Sun where the lesser-known siblings of the legendary Navajo Hero Twins are ready for an adventure of their own. The story is inspired by the Navajo creation story and blends live performance and puppetry where monsters descend upon the human world. Will the siblings save the earth? Find out when The Other Children of the Sun will run March 31 to April 18, 2027, at Red Eye Theatre in Minneapolis.
In June, NNT’s 6th Annual Reclaiming Our Identities Two-Spirit Powwow returns for another joyful Native celebration. Minnesota’s only powwow honoring Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ relatives is the largest of its kind in the Upper Midwest. This free, family-friendly, social event brings hundreds together for traditional dancing, regalia, a market featuring local craft and food vendors, a community feast, and Two-Spirit pride. The powwow will take place June 22, 2027 at the Minneapolis American Indian Center and is open to all.
In August, NNT’s 5th Annual Youth Theater Summer Camp offers Native youth a fun and culturally affirming space in which to explore their creativity and discover the magic of making theatre. Through a week of hands-on workshops, youth build confidence, develop new skills, and share what they’ve made in a culminating performance for friends and family. Contact New Native Theatre to enroll your youth.
Throughout the 2026-27 season, New Native Theatre will be offering a touring Theatre for Young Audiences play, Memengwaa/Butterfly, an Ojibwe-language adaptation of Mariposa/Butterfly by Sandra Fenichel Asher and José Casas. Through the story of two neighbors quarreling over a butterfly, this family-friendly work explores how understanding transforms our relationships. Featuring Ojibwe language, puppetry, and song, Memengwaa/Butterfly offers audiences of all ages a moving and playful theatrical experience rooted in Indigenous storytelling and culture. Following its premiere at the Minnesota State Fair’s Indigenous Peoples Day celebration in 2026, Memengwaa/Butterfly will tour to Minnesota schools and communities throughout 2026-2027. To invite the production to your community contact info@newnativetheatre.org.
Tickets for Where the Summit Meets the Stars and The Other Children of the Sun will be available through NNT’s website at www.newnativetheatre.org. Through the website, ticket buyers can learn more about each event. Tickets for New Native Theatre’s productions are pay-what-you-can with a suggested price of $40. ###