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Canku Ota

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(Many Paths)

An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America

 

June 14, 2003 - Issue 89

 
 

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Red Mesa Students Earn Laurels for Drama

 
 
by Levi J. Long The Navajo Times
 
 
credits: Mesa High School students Murphy Gray, left,and Fred Begay peform as the ugly stepsisters conniving to get rid of Cinderella in a spoof of the fairy tale "Cinderella Wears Combat Boots" performed this past spring at the 11th annual Native American Drama and Fine Arts Festival at Chinle High School. (Courtesy photo)
 

Mesa High School students Murphy Gray, left,and Fred Begay peform as the ugly stepsisters conniving to get rid of Cinderella in a spoof of the fairy tale "Cinderella Wears Combat Boots" performed this past spring at the 11th annual Native American Drama and Fine Arts Festival at Chinle High School. (Courtesy photo)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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