William S. Yellow Robe Jr.

William S. Yellow Robe Jr.
Born(1960-02-04)February 4, 1960
Poplar, Montana[1]
DiedJuly 19, 2021(2021-07-19) (aged 61)
Bangor, Maine
Occupation
  • Actor
  • author
  • director
  • educator
  • playwright
  • poet[2]
NationalityFort Peck Assiniboine
GenreNative American literature
Notable worksGrandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers: And Other Untold Stories, Where the Pavement Ends
Notable awardsFirst Nations Book Award for Drama

William S. Yellow Robe Jr. (February 4, 1960 – July 19, 2021) was an Assiniboine actor, author, director, educator, playwright, and poet.[2]

Life and career

A member of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Yellow Robe was raised by his mother on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana.[3] He studied writing and performing arts at the University of Montana.[4]

Yellow Robe's works have been performed in venues across the United States, including the Penumbra Theatre Company in St. Paul;[5] the Public Theater in New York;[6] the Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, RI;[7] and the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.[8] He was a member of Penumbra, as well as the Ensemble Studio Theater,[9] Amerinda, Inc.,[2] and the advisory board for Red Eagle Soaring Native Youth Theatre.[10]

Yellow Robe has also taught at the Institute of American Indian Arts, Brown University,[11] and the University of Maine.[12]

He died following a long illness in Bangor on July 19, 2021.[13] The day after he died, Yellow Robe was named the recipient of a $40,000 award in recognition of his contributions to theatre.[14] His papers joined the many playwright and poetry archives at the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin in 2022 and are available there for research.[15]

Awards

  • New England Theater Conference Special Award winner (2004)[16]
  • New York Community Trust Helen Merril Award for Playwrighting (2021), announced one day after Yellow Robe died.

Bibliography

  • Where the Pavement Ends: Five Native American Plays. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. 2003. ISBN 0806132655.
  • Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers and Other Untold Stories. UCLA American Indian Studies Center. 2009. ISBN 978-0935626599.
  • The Body Guards. ASIN: B014613HLM
  • The Burning of Uncle. *from Learner, A. (Ed.). (1990). Dancing on the rim of the world: an anthology of contemporary Northwest native American writing. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. ISBN 978-0816512157
  • The Council. ASIN: B014617O4S
  • Independence of Eddie Rose. ASIN: B00LLPCN1C *from Mojica, M. and Knowles, R. (Eds.). (2003). Staging coyote's dream: an anthology of First Nations drama in English. Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press. ISBN 978-0887546259
  • Restless Spirits: plays. Albany: State University of New York Press, [2020]. ISBN 978-1438478647
  • Rez Politics. ASIN: B0146168YK
  • Sneaky. ASIN: B014619D42
  • The Star Quilter. ASIN: B01461109S

Notes

  1. ^ "William Yellow Robe Receives Lifetime Achievement Award". Department of English. University of Maine. 28 March 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  2. ^ a b c "William S. Yellow Robe Jr". Amerinda.org. Amerinda. Retrieved 2015-03-24.
  3. ^ Uno, Roberta; Robe, William Yellow (Fall 1989). "Interview: William Yellow Robe". MELUS. 16 (3): 83. doi:10.2307/467568. JSTOR 467568.
  4. ^ Pulitano, Elvira (Spring 1998). "Telling Stories through the Stage: A Conversation with William Yellow Robe". Studies in American Indian Literatures. 10 (1): 19.
  5. ^ "Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers". Penumbra. Penumbra Theatre. Retrieved 2015-03-24.
  6. ^ Hetrick, Adam (August 3, 2011). "William S. YellowRobe Jr.'s Thieves Arrives at the Public". Playbill. Retrieved 2015-03-24.
  7. ^ "Past Seasons". Trinity Repertory Company. Archived from the original on 2012-02-28. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
  8. ^ "National Museum of the American Indian Presents Production of Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers". Newsdesk. Smithsonian. Retrieved 2015-03-24.
  9. ^ Geiogamah, Hanay. "Interview with William S. Yellow Robe Jr. (2007)". Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library. Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. Retrieved 2015-03-24.
  10. ^ "Acclaimed playwright William S. Yellow Robe Jr. to read works at Hangin' Art Gallery". Char-Koosta News. November 8, 2012. Retrieved 2015-03-24.
  11. ^ McElwain, Diana (April 21, 2003). "William Yellow Robe: No One's Stray Dog". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved 2015-03-24.
  12. ^ "Faculty — William Yellow Robe". Department of English. University of Maine. Retrieved 2015-03-24.
  13. ^ Burnham, Emily (21 July 2021). "Acclaimed Native playwright and UMaine lecturer William Yellow Robe dies at 61". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  14. ^ "Helen Merrill Awards Announce 6 Winners". 20 July 2021.
  15. ^ "My Friend Bill Yellow Robe". sites.utexas.edu. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
  16. ^ Watts, Jeff (Fall 2004). "Countdown to Convention 2004" (PDF). NETC News (PDF). 13 (4). Retrieved 2015-03-24.

Further reading

  • Krasner, David (2009). "Coming-of-Age on the Rez: William S. Yellow Robe's The Independence of Eddie Rose as Native American Bildungsdrama". In Wilmer, S. E. (ed.). Native American Performance and Representation. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. pp. 171–181. ISBN 978-0816526468.
  • Rooks, David (2005). "The Real Thing: Identity and cultural authenticity are dramatic fodder for William S. Yellow Robe Jr. An interview". American Theater. Theatre Communications Group. Retrieved 2015-03-24.
  • Stoudt, Charlotte (2004). "Border Crossings: Theatre, Tribalism and Twenty-First-Century America. Luis Valdez at San Diego Repertory Theatre and William Yellow Robe Jr., at Trinity Repertory Company". In Stoudt, Charlotte (ed.). Stages of Transformation: Collaborations of the National Theatre Artist Residency Program. New York: Theatre Communications Group. pp. 56–67. ISBN 978-1559362771.
  • Weagel, Deborah Fillerup (2011). "The Quilt as (Non-)Commodity in William S. Yellow Robe Jr.'s The Star Quilter". Western American Literature. 46 (1): 46–64. doi:10.1353/wal.2011.0038. S2CID 163056238.
  • Weinert-Kendt, Rob. "In the Trenches: William Yellow Robe". tgc circle. Theater Communications Group. Retrieved 2015-03-24.