Z Puppets apprentice Oogie_Push adds her creative energy to Star Turtle Musical Adventures Into the Cherokee Language
April 6, 2023 | Arts & Cultural Affairs
L to R: Z Puppets Rosenschnoz team on set, Oogie_Push.
Z Puppets hires Oogie_Push, Bear Clan of the Meskwaki Nation as their new Video Production Apprentice.
The City of Minneapolis’ Arts & Cultural Affairs, Business Support for Creatives grantee Z Puppets Rosenschnoz, was one of six creative enterprises selected to plan and build job creation and employment opportunities for creative workers. Z Puppets Rosenschnoz hired Oogie_Push, Bear Clan of the Meskwaki Nation as their new Video Production Assistant to join their small team in creating and producing the next episodes of STAR TURTLE musical adventures into the Cherokee language.
Juleana Enright interviewed Oogie_Push about her artistry, creating jobs for BIPOC artists in theater, and the magic of puppetry. This article has been edited for length and clarity.
Tell us a little about your background and artistic history.
Photo: Oogie (center) dancing Fancy Shawl at a Pow-wow.
Oogie: I grew up going to powwows. I was a fancy shawl dancer since I could walk and was a champion teen dancer too. When my twin sister, Delonda and I were in the third or fourth grade, we started doing educational presentations at our school of powwow dancing and our culture. Then we started traveling around to other Iowa public schools, doing dance presentations, and talking about our culture and just educating white people about Natives. My parents insisted we both go to college. Once I found out about Haskell Indian Nations University, I wanted to go there because it’s all Indian (HINU is the premiere tribal university in the United States), and I didn’t have to explain myself. That’s when I discovered theater, and I’ve been a stage actor ever since. I got a master’s degree in theater design and technology, which is scene design and lighting design.
In Native theater, there aren’t that many of us, and I wanted to be more useful than just an actor. I wanted to learn the technical side, which has come in handy. I traveled the world for about six years, and then I missed acting. I moved to the Twin Cities and just started performing. Now I’m trying to get production assistant work on local film sets. I just produced a documentary series which screened March 16, 2023, at Public Functionary, titled A Night of Native Documentaries.
How did you hear about this opportunity with Z puppets?
Oogie: I saw their posting. I had met Chris Griffith (Co-Creative Director and Founder, Z Puppets Rosenschnoz) in 2019. Disney and ABC had a writer’s workshop with Native community members at All My Relations Arts. He was telling me about his grandmother’s library of Cherokee language books. She was a story keeper and he wanted to create a Cherokee language puppet story. I thought that was super cool. Then to discover that they were looking for an apprentice to help with the episodes this year, I was like, ‘oh, cool, full circle.’
“It’s been rewarding to be able to generate income for and advance the career of another Native artist, while also strengthening our own work.” — Chris Griffith, Z Puppets
Photo: Chris Griffith and Shari Aaronson (Co-Founders of Z Puppets) as Dagsi Turtle and Jisdu Wabbit in STAR TURTLE, a musical adventure into the Cherokee language.
What are you looking forward to most with this apprenticeship opportunity?
Oogie: I’m most excited to learn about puppets because I’ve never worked with a puppet theater company or done anything with puppets. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do but didn’t really find a place where I wanted to be. I’ve been learning some cool effects because Z Puppets shoot on a green screen, and I’ve never worked with a green screen or done any editing. I’m learning so much. A lot of my previous knowledge really helps support the making of these episodes we’re working on.
How will your lived Meskwaki experiences inform your apprenticeship with Z Puppets?
Oogie: I have some insights into cultural aspects that might be appropriate or might not be appropriate in this production. I have an understanding of what Z Puppets needs for the Cherokee language video and I’m helping to create a cultural understanding of the script.
Going back to the Z Puppets position description, it stated that one of the goals was to ‘provide programs for and cultivate meaningful partnerships with Native American communities, but also intentionally create professional development and economic opportunity.’ What does that mean to you? Why do you think this is important and how will you work towards this in your role?
Oogie: What it means to me is that I have a steady job for six months. Which – as someone who works gig to gig – it’s great to have a long working period and doing all the things that I want to do. Z Puppets is conscious of creating job opportunities for more BIPOC folks.
I think that’s important because we’ve been historically excluded for so long that it’s nice to know there are companies who are making space for us to enter and offer our creativity and support to their projects.
What skills do you hope to gain in this role?
Oogie: Learning how to work on a green screen, even how to light for a video production. Since I’m a stage lighting designer academically, it’s a whole different medium. The way things are done are different – technologically. Also just learning about puppets. It’s given me inspiration for future projects that I want to do and how I want to do them.
Are there other things you are hoping to take away from the apprenticeship?
Oogie: I want to see how they produce a project from start to finish, like an entire video production. There are five episodes so seeing how they do it and how they prepare is something that is completely different from the way I create. I want to make series documentaries in the future. I’m understanding how to plan out the season of these episodes. It’s a skill set I’m happy to learn.
“This apprenticeship could not have come at a better time nor with a better opportunity for Z Puppets to work with Oogie. Being able to add a paid position with the support of this apprenticeship program makes a huge impact on a small artist-led company like ours.”
— Shari Aronson, Z Puppets
How do you think that puppets translate into storytelling or theater?
Oogie: I think puppets help trigger our imagination in a way that theater also does. The puppets just come alive, and they make the impossible seem believable.
Juleana: Agreed. Sometimes puppets can enliven subject matters that are a little harder to digest. There’s an element of playfulness that allows an audience to get the information without feeling overwhelmed.
Oogie: The treaty video that we’re working on with Speaking Out Collective, teaches third graders about treaties. It’s an interesting way of explaining treaties, basically how we got the short end of the stick, but they present it with a song and a 2D puppet montage. It’s a catchy tune so students can understand what happened.
How will your production skills translate into this apprenticeship and how do you think your work will impact Z Puppets?
Oogie: I hope I can help Z Puppets finish Star Turtle and make it the best they want it to be. They’ve already told me they appreciate my input. A lot of times, it’s a team of two working on it, so it’s nice to take a load off them and help bring the story to life. I can easily see things that can be fixed, or if something doesn’t look quite right by bringing my problem-solving skills and ensemble working abilities to the table. When the three of us get together, we just make magic.
About Oogie_Push
Oogie_Push is Bear Clan of the Meskwaki Nation, currently living and creating on Dakota Territory, also known as the Twin Cities. She is an actor, dancer, writer, storyteller, and a Meskwaki Twine Bag Weaver. She received an A.A. in Theatre, a B.A. in American Indian Studies with an emphasis in Theatre from Haskell Indian Nations University, and an MFA in Theatre: Design & Technology from University of Missouri-Kansas City. She works as an actor in the Twin Cities with a variety of theatre companies, as well as works as a Production Assistant in the local TV/Film Industry.
Oogie got into the arts to smash stereotypes about Native Americans, to tell Native stories from a Native perspective, and advocates for authentic representation. Aside from working at Z Puppets Rosenschnoz, she also works on cultural documentaries, and is the Executive Producer and Director of Tama Flint: A Meskwaki Tradition. She will perform in Antigonick, in the role of Antigone with Full Circle Theater, at Mixed Blood Theatre, May 17 - June 4, 2023. Oogie hosts Lunch Hour Dance Break on Wednesday’s from noon-1:00 pm at Public Functionary in the Northrup King Building, Northeast Minneapolis. Oogie writes and performs her own personal Water Stories for the stage with The Adventures of a Traveling Meskwaki. Her favorite adventure was her two tours with the Fairbanks Shakespeare Theatre (Lear Khehkwaii & A Midsummer Night’s Dream) at schools throughout Alaska.
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Publisher's Note: The name, "The Office of Arts, Culture & the Creative Economy" has been updated on August 13, 2023 where it appeared within the content of this article to "Arts & Cultural Affairs" to reflect its new name as a department of the City of Minneapolis.