Vera Starbard has won a three-year, three-play writing residency at Perseverance Theatre, with the help of a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Vera Starbard has won a three-year, three-play writing residency at Perseverance Theatre, with the help of a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Alaska Native playwright Vera Starbard wins three-year writing residency

Alaska Native playwright Vera Starbard, who wrote “Our Voices Will be Heard,” produced this winter at Perseverance Theatre in Juneau, and in Hoonah and Anchorage, has received a three-year grant, through Perseverance, from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

She will join Perseverance staff and fulfill a three-play commission for Perseverance Theatre during her residency, each focused on Alaska Native topics and issues. In addition, Starbard will assist Perseverance Theatre in its goal to produce more theatre written by Alaska Native playwrights. She will also help Perseverance build even stronger ties with Native organizations the theatre has partnered with for years, as well as develop new relationships in Alaska, and with Native theatre companies around the nation.

“Financial security for artists can be elusive. Artists must supplement their income, or work primarily at a job unrelated to their art to make ends meet,” Starbard said. “The opportunity to work on my writing full time is a game changer for me, the gift of time to research, write, and produce is priceless.”

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with the goals of allowing playwrights space to create their art, and to encourage a theatre culture that embeds playwrights within theatre companies, funds three-year salaried positions for playwrights within regional theatres across the nation. Of the 24 playwrights who have been selected for this national program since its inception, Starbard is both the first Alaskan, and the first Alaska Native or American Indian playwright chosen for the residency.

Starbard is editor of First Alaskans Magazine, and is co-founder of the Alaska Native theater group Dark Winter Productions. Starbard is Tlingit and Dena’ina Athabascan, born in Craig, Alaska, and now lives in Anchorage. She completed a novel in 2010 after winning a Rasmuson Foundation Individual Artist Award, and has won numerous statewide and national awards for her journalism and public relations writing. For the residency, Starbard will split her time between Juneau and Anchorage, two communities in which Perseverance Theatre has offices and regular season productions.

Perseverance Theatre has been working with Starbard for the past three years through Dark Winter Productions, and in producing “Our Voices Will Be Heard” and other short play projects. Perseverance’s goal with the residency is to incorporate Starbard into the staff, mentor her in play production, and partner on Native theatre building goals.

“Vera is both a terrific writer and an effective advocate for Alaska Native voices in the theatre. Indigenous writing is woefully under-represented on American stages, but thanks to The Mellon Foundation and talented emerging writers like Vera, we can begin to write a new chapter in our story as a theatre field including vital Native voices. This work matters because not only are Alaska Natives master storytellers and performers, Alaska Natives and Native Americans have histories too often misunderstood, hidden, or, worse yet, appropriated by others. Three years of residency and three plays by a Tlingit writer in residence at Perseverance is a great beginning to what I hope will be a much larger effort including other Native writers, performers, and theatre artists, to make an equitable theatre that honors and sustains the voices of Alaska Natives as generative artists on our stages,” says Perseverance Theatre Executive Artistic Director Art Rotch.

The full award amount of $205,000 covers a three-year salary, benefits and research time. Starbard also has the opportunity to apply for a development fund to learn and hone skills. The award includes annual gatherings and week-long development residencies at Boston’s Emerson College throughout the residency. The residency begins July 2016 and runs through June 2019.

More in Neighbors

Becky Corson is a member of Shepherd Of The Valley Lutheran Church. (Photo provided by Becky Corson)
Living and Growing: ‘Secondhand’ can be a wonderful way to go

These clothing sales are ruining my life. Maybe that’s an overstatement. It’s… Continue reading

A sculpture of Constantine the Great by Philip Jackson in York. (Public domain photo republished under a Creative Commons license)
Living and Growing: Christianity or Churchianity?

Several cruise ship passengers arriving in Juneau this September were greeted on… Continue reading

Szechwan-style fish ready to serve. (Photo by Patty Schied)
Cooking For Pleasure: Fish Szechwan style

Ever since I started writing this column, I have debated whether to… Continue reading

Fred LaPlante is the pastor at Juneau Church of the Nazarene. (Courtesy photo)
Living and Growing: Reflections from Advent

Do you feel pulled in so many directions this Christmas season? I… Continue reading

Members of the Juneau Ski Team offer cookies and other treats to people in the Senate Mall during this year’s Gallery Walk on Friday, Dec. 6. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)
Gimme A Smile: Gifts through the ages

Why is it that once the gift-giving holidays are over and the… Continue reading

(Photo courtesy of Laura Rorem)
Living and Growing: Meaningful belonging

My 57 glorious years with my beloved soul mate, Larry, created a… Continue reading

A winter’s landscape in the Douglas Island mountains. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)
Column: The Christmas smile

A holiday remembrance.

Tortilla casserole ready to serve. (Photo by Patty Schied)
Cooking For Pleasure: Tortilla casserole with leftover turkey

This is a great way to use leftover turkey should you have… Continue reading

Brent Merten is the pastor of Christ Lutheran Church, Juneau. (Courtesy photo)
Living and Growing: The most famous person you’ll ever meet

The most famous person I’ve ever met was Gerald R. Ford. It… Continue reading

The author holds her mother’s hand two hours before she died. (Photo by Gabriella Hebert)
Living and Growing: Spiritual care at end of life

My favorite Gold Creek trail was damaged in one of the 2024… Continue reading

One of countless classic combinations possible with Thanksgiving leftovers. (Stu Spivack / CC BY-SA 2.0)
Gimme A Smile: Please, take home some leftovers

The holiday season is upon us! Over the next few months, we… Continue reading