Native American Studies at the University of Michigan presents the 2019 Robert F. Berkhofer Jr. Lecture: An Evening With Mary Kathryn Nagle
"Native Theater in the 21st Century: Piercing the Invisibility and Restoring Our Humanity"

This event is free and open to the public. There will be a catered reception to follow the lecture.

Mary Kathryn Nagle is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program. She is also a partner at Pipestem Law, P.C., where she works to protect tribal sovereignty and the inherent right of Indian Nations to protect their women and children from domestic violence and sexual assault. Nagle has authored numerous briefs in federal appellate courts, including the United States Supreme Court. Nagle studied theater and social justice at Georgetown University as an undergraduate student, and received her J.D. from Tulane Law School where she graduated summe cum laude and received the John Minor Wisdom Award. She is a frequent speaker at law schools and symposia across the country. Her articles have been published in law review journals including the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender, Yale Law Journal (online forum), Tulsa Law Review, and Tulane Law Review, among others.

Nagle is an alumn of the 2012 PUBLIC THEATER Emerging Writers Group, where she developed her play “Manahatta” in PUBLIC STUDIO (May 2014). Productions include “Miss Lead” (Amerinda, 59E59, January 2014), and “Fairly Traceable” (Native Voices at the Autry, March 2017), “Sovereignty” (Arena Stage), “Manahatta” (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), and Return to Niobrara (Rose Theater). In 2019, Portland Center Stage will produce the world premiere of “Crossing Mnisose.”

Nagle has received commissions from Arena Stage (“Sovereignty”), the Rose Theater (“Return to Niobrara,” Omaha, Nebraska), Portland Center Stage (“Mnisose”), Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Yale Repertory Theatre (“A Pipe for February”), and Round House Theater.

The Berkhofer Lecture series (named for a former U-M professor and founder of the field of Native American studies) was established in 2014 by an alumni gift from the Dan and Carmen Brenner family of Seattle, Washington. In close consultation with the Brenners, Native American Studies decided to create a public lecture series featuring prominent, marquee speakers who would draw audiences from different communities (faculty and students, Ann Arbor and Detroit, and Michigan tribal communities as well as writers and readers of all persuasions). Native American students at U-M have consistently expressed their desire to make Native Americans more visible both on campus and off, and we believe that this lecture takes a meaningful step in that direction. Additionally, because of the statewide publicity it generates, we think it is already becoming another recruitment incentive for Native American students. It goes without saying that the speakers we are inviting provide tremendous value to the mission and work of Native American Studies at U-M.