 RED
MESA, Ariz. - Getting a guy to wear a dress and combat boots on stage
could be hard to do. But for Red Mesa High School drama teacher Conni
Dilago, the task was like having a fairy godmother granting a wish.
"He did it," Dilago said.
Dilago, who is also a journalism
and English teacher at Red Mesa, said she was able to convince senior
Ryan Harrison to wear the getup for a play.
"We found him a compact book
that matched the boots," she said.
Harrison had the lead role in "Cinderella
Wears Combat Boots," performed this past spring at the 11th annual
Native American Drama and Fine Arts Festival at Chinle High School.
"It's a farce about Cinderella,"
she said.
She said the play is about the
fairy tale - except with a twist. They switched the gender roles of the
lead characters for "Combat Boots."
She said that senior LaVenna Charley
also played the role of the king in the play.
The decision was smart because
Harrison was a runner-up for best actor at the festival.
And because of the group's acting
ability, seven Red Mesa seniors won the opportunity for scholarships totaling
over $250,000 to study drama at the University of Evansville, a private
university in Indiana.
Each of the scholarships is valued
at $24,000 over a four-year period. The scholarships are open to those
students who meet admission standards and are enrolled at Evansville though
the scholarships are not for full tuition.
JoAnn Laugel, director of financial
aid at Evansville said that their school has offered the scholarships
since the late 1990s.
"So far, no student has taken
them up on our offer," she said. Laugel said that there was one student
who was seriously considering going to school there, but did not have
enough financial aid to cover tuition costs.
Laugel estimates that it costs
Evansville students $25,000 a year. She admits that it's a lot of money,
but said that there are other forms of aid to help students attend Evansville.
"That's what the financial
aid office is for," she said.
She said that Evansville has a
great arts program for students studying music or theatre.
"We're interested in talented
students from around the country," Laugel said. "We're always
recognizing talent." She said that having the Navajo students would
be great for diversity at Evansville.
The seniors selected besides Harrison
and Charley are Chris J. Charleston, Murphy Gray, Winifres A. Gray, Tenderia
Jones and Stephanie Shorty.
Dilago said that most of the students
have expressed an interest to study acting in college, but aren't sure
they'll go to Evansville.
She said that as of right now,
some are thinking about going to a junior college first and then transferring
to Evansville after two years.
Dilago said that there were also
five juniors who have the chance to accept scholarships as well. The juniors
selected are Sedena Benallie, Danika Bileen, Charlotte Hanley, Darrin
Mitchell and Diedra Tsosie.
Ferdinand Little, who wasn't in
the play, also won a scholarship for doing a traditional dance at the
festival.
Dilago said most of her students
come from traditional Navajo families and are very in tune with humor.
"Navajo students have an innate
sense of humor," Dilago said.
She said that getting her students
into rehearsals was tough because of scheduling conflicts.
"Most of the kids here are
involved in sports...we had to work around their games," she said.
Besides basketball and football
game conflicts, Dilago said some students had to overcome shyness.
"It's hard to get them to
spread their wings," Dilago said.
Recently the students were selected
for public service announcement videos produced by Tribal Health Connections.
Tribal Health is a group that promotes
mental health information for tribes around the country.
Molly McGetrick, spokeswoman for
the group said she'd heard great things about the drama students and wanted
to use them for the one-minute video spots. Filming will begin in July.
"The drama group at Red Mesa
is very fine and will perform quite well," McGetrick said.
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