People of Color

The newly established Native Playwrights PDX, co-organized by director Amber Kay Ball, Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, is providing Native theater makers a platform to accurately and respectfully tell the stories of modern Indigenous people. Support from this community funded arts project will combat the lack of Indigenous representation in media while amplifying the work of up-and-coming playwrights and directors.

Native Playwrights PDX was co-organized by Ball in 2024. After hosting a staged reading for their self-written play “Finding Bigfoot” in collaboration with the Fertile Ground Festival at Barbie’s Village last year, Ball, who uses the pronouns she/they, felt that it was more impactful and accessible to showcase work in a community space rather than a major theater.

“It felt more significant than presenting it in a theater to me at the moment when I could just showcase it with community,” Ball recalled.

Since that first staged reading, the idea has only grown.