Written and performed by Murielle Borst-Tarrant
Directed by Steven Sapp and Mildred Ruiz-Sapp

New York City has always been a gathering and trading place for many Indigenous peoples, where Native Nations intersected from all four directions since time immemorial. It was a place to gather and sometimes to seek refuge during times of conflict and struggle. Borst-Tarrant’s family first came to New York City in the late 1800’s from Virginia and bought a house in Brooklyn and raised four generations. This story is about how they as a family had to keep tradition alive. The survival of genocide, relocation, the boarding school system and the United States Government outlawing the practice of their cultural traditions. The story is about her family’s triumph of will, dysfunction, historical trauma through laughter. Her personal tapestry of stories being brought up in Brooklyn in a Mafia run neighborhood when they were the only Natives on the block. And this is just one Tipi Tale of the city. This program is made possible in part through funding from the Astere E. Claeyssens Artist-in-Residence program.