The Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program (YIPAP) is excited to announce the call for submissions for the Third Annual Misty Upham Award for Young Native Actors. This award was created in memory of the acclaimed Blackfeet actress Misty Upham and honors Native actors 25 and under.
The winner will receive $500, and transportation to and housing on Yale campus to be honored as part of an award ceremony at Yale in early May. They will also have the opportunity to be cast as an actor in performances in the annual YIPAP New Native Play festival. This will be the first year since the award was created that the festival will return to being held in person on the Yale campus, and we are so excited to host our first in person honoring ceremony for this award.
Native actors age 25 and under are invited to record themselves performing a monologue to be considered for submission. Video submissions are due Feb 28th 2023 and will be evaluated by a team of professional theater artists.
For the purposes of the competition, we have compiled a special folder of monologues for Native actors under 25 by Native playwrights such as Marisa Carr, Carolyn Dunn, Tara Moses, Mary Kathryn Nagle, Vera Starbard, William S Yellowrobe Jr, and Vickie Ramirez, with their permission. New monologues have also been added since last year’s submissions.
Anyone previously named a finalist, honorable mention, or youth prize winner is eligible and encouraged to re-apply for the main award this year, using a different monologue. Our previous winners were Isabella Star Lablanc, and Taya Dixon.
Please email the following information to madeline.sayet@yale.edu for access to the folder of Monologue options to submit.
- Full Name
- Tribal Affiliation
- Date of Birth
- Phone Number
We will be offering an additional free acting workshop in early February to help actors prepare their contest submissions. Details for the workshop will be announced soon.