(Giizhig) (he/him/they/we/us)
Movement Director, Mother Road
In one season at OSF: Movement director, Manahatta.
Ty Defoe, from the Oneida and Ojibwe Nations, is a writer, interdisciplinary artist and Grammy Award winner. He learned to hoop dance, eagle dance and play a variety of wooden flutes during visits in community.
Off-Broadway: Masculinity Max (Public Studio). Broadway: Straight White Men (Second Stage). Tours: Writer/co-director, Ajijaak On Turtle Island (New Victory Theater/ New York); Call for Peace Drum and Dance Company (Egypt); Ankara International Music Festival (Greece, Japan, Turkey).
Other: Book and lyrics, Clouds Are Pillows for the Moon with composer Tidtaya Sinutoke (Yale Institute for Musical Theatre, ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop); Hart Island Requiem (The Civilians R&D Group, Goodspeed Musicals); Red Pine (Native Voices at the Autry; IAIA); The Way They Lived (The Civilians). Member, First Nations Theater Guild, Two Spirit Society; co-founder, Indigenous Direction.
TV: Netflix appearances; Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
Awards: NEA/NEFA, Drum is Thunder, Flute is Wind; FAITA Outstanding Performance Award, Scholarship Award; Indigenous Heritage Festival Award; Robert Rauschenberg Artist in Residence; 2017 Jonathan Larson Award.
Training: CalArts; Goddard College; NYU/Tisch; artEquity facilitator.
tydefoe.com