On Friday night, 57 students, professors and community members gathered to watch a staged reading of “Princess Pocahontas and the Blue Spots.” Each actor sat on one of four boxes that intersected the circle of silk on the floor. The actors moved fluidly across the room as they spoke, and their script in hand seemed to disappear from notice.
The play used the story of Princess Pocahontas to comment on the misrepresentation of Indigenous women in Western media and reclaim untold stories. It showcased that Princess Pocahontas’s story was romanticized and incomplete.
“Stories can break the dignity of a people,” Kat Sincuir Alvarez, one of the actors, said before the show began. “But stories can also repair that broken dignity.” The quote she shared was taken from a TED talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
The production was a collaborative project between theater professor Theresa May, Indigenous advisor Marta Lu Clifford and five UO students. May mentored the students and allowed them to bring to life their own vision of the play. Sincuir Álvarez said May used an improv “yes, and” technique where the team could add on to each others’ ideas. May said she hoped this would create a deep learning experience.
Prior to Friday, the students also performed the play in the Undergraduate Research Symposium. This opportunity showcased that learning can occur through participation in performing arts. May said it was “embodied research” — students learned about Indigenous women by “imaginatively entering into the experiences represented in the play.”
“Princess Pocahontas and the Blue Spots” by Monique Mojica confronts the often challenging and untold histories of Indigenous women. It covers topics such as sexual harassment and colonization. For student Lily Gastelum, it was important to bring this history to light but also showcase that it is still ongoing. Throughout the production process, Gastelum was fighting in courts to try to win a case for her father who was deported by ICE. “It’s been really demoralizing,” she said.
Aaralyn Reed, a freshman studying theater arts and linguistics, said they hoped the audience would feel a sense of discomfort by the knowledge the play brings forth. Reed’s wish came true, at least for audience member Martin.
“There were scenes which were heartwrenching,” he said. “There were scenes which were filled with rage.” During a post-performance discussion, he asked the actors how people can make a change in the situation.
Quaye Dydasco, a junior studying theater arts and economics, said continuing to watch these plays and supporting minority artists is one way to stay informed and make a difference. She shared with the audience that cast member Sincuir Alvarez is currently in the process of opening a Latinx theater company called Maíz Theatre.
At the end of the 70-minute production, the colorful silk, boxes and other props were spread on the ground in a mess. “I am enraged with you! You steal our land!” the actors said in sync. “I am calling upon you! I throw my words in your faces!” As the lights turned off, the four actors turned to one another and hugged each other as the audience filled the room with claps.
