MENOMINEE PAGEANT AUDITIONS TO BE HELD ON JUNE 8

KESHENA, WI – The Menominee community will play a role in the United States’ 250th anniversary celebration. “Of the People: The Smithsonian Festival of Festivals” will host approximately forty festivals around the country, with the July 29 production of the Menominee Pageant being the only event held in Wisconsin. A revived tradition of the Menominee Nation, the annual production is a show of pantomime, live music, and Native dance that marks the beginning of Menominee Powwow week each summer. Since the pageant’s renaissance in 2016, the College of Menominee Nation has imagined the event as an opportunity to engage performers and storytellers across generations, bridging heritage with contemporary theater practices and highlighting culture bearers of all ages. Menominee Pageants are a mixture of pantomime, live music, and dance. This means that the show’s oration will be recorded, enhanced with sound effects, and performed with the actors speaking their lines alongside the recorded track. Joining existing sponsors, the Wisconsin Arts Board, the Menominee Powwow Committee, and Taproot Artists and Community Trust, this year’s Smithsonian collaboration enables CMN to purchase new lighting and technical equipment that will enhance the special effects, as well as a designated sound system that Menominee elders requested be placed at the top of the amphitheater. This summer’s cast and crew have yet to be set, as auditions will be held on CMN’s Keshena campus from 5-7 PM on Monday, June 8. Interested members should arrive at the campus atrium or contact director Ryan Winn through the college’s website or phone switchboard. ##### The College of Menominee Nation is a tribal Land Grant college, chartered by the Menominee people. The College's main campus is in Keshena, Wisconsin, with a second located in metropolitan Green Bay, not far from the tribal lands of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. More information about CMN can be found at www.menominee.edu If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Dr. Ryan Winn at 715-799- 6226, ext. 3070, or by email at rwinn@menominee.edu.