Bleeding Red: Decolonizing the Actor's Process in Search of Emotional Authenticity

The contents of this thesis will discuss the search for emotional authenticity and vulnerability in performance through an investigation of my Indigenous identity and decolonization. Through the role of Maybe Jane and ensemble member in the adaptation of Charlotte Perkins-Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper, I intend to explore indigenizing my role and process to access my full range of emotion, ultimately, allowing a non-Indigenous story and character to be expressed through my Indigenous body. Using Yvette Nolan's Medicine Shows: Indigenous Performance Culture, and the works of many Indigenous scholars, as my source material I will further examine how the practices of the Indigenous performance community can be incorporated into non-Indigenous, multi-cultural theatre processes. This investigation will be aided through the examining of the life and works of original author Charlotte Perkins-Gilman, the roles and status of women at the turn of the 20th century, my summer research working in Indigenous pedagogies, and personal investigation of my own indigeneity.