All-Native Cast Brings Brenda J. Child’s “Bowwow Powwow” to Life at Stages Theatre

The Stages Theatre Company opens its season with a new stage adaptation of Brenda J. Child’s Bowwow Powwow, running September 16–27, 2026 at the Jaycees Studio Theatre. The 45-minute show comes out of a partnership with Mni Giizhik Theatre Ensemble, a company focused on Native theater training and performance. Every actor on stage is Native, recruited from schools and communities around the Twin Cities, ranging in age from 7 to 18.

The story traces back to Brenda J. Child’s 2018 picture book of the same name, which won the American Indian Youth Literature Award in 2020. Child, a historian and professor at the University of Minnesota, wrote it after her grandson came home from a powwow describing a dream he’d had of a dog dancing among the drummers. That dream and its imagery inspired the story of Windy Girl, a kid from Red Lake Nation who falls asleep under the stars after a day at the celebration. In her dream, the powwow shifts into something stranger and more playful when the dogs join in, dancing and drumming alongside everyone else. The twist opens onto bigger things, like how a powwow works as a gathering place, how stories move from one generation to the next, and what a child’s imagination does with both.

Benay McNamara and Blossom Johnson adapted the book for the stage, keeping much of what made the original work. Jonathan Thunder’s illustrations still shape how the world looks, and McNamara also stepped in as the production’s Ojibwe language consultant. Bizhiki wrote the music, and Josephine Hoffman’s choreography gives the powwow scenes their pulse. Sara Pillatzki-Warzeha directs, working alongside Stages Theatre’s artistic director, Sandy Boren-Barret, and fellow Mni Giizhik Theatre Ensemble members Adrienne Zimiga, January, and Sequoia Hauck.

Siobhan Hellendrung, 13, plays Windy Girl in her fifth show, but says this one feels different from the rest. “I’ve definitely worked with Native kids in shows I’ve been in, but to be in an all-Native cast…I think that’s really special,” she told MPR News. She’s also thinking about the kids watching from the seats:

“I just feel really proud to be that Indigenous representation for all the kids [who] come see this.”

Pillatzki-Warzeha describes the project in similar terms, focusing less on the performance itself than on what it gives the performers. “This is a way for young people to grow in confidence and to feel like, ‘This is where I’m from,'” she said.

Rounding out the cast are Bear Warzeha as Itchy Boy, Trey P’orantes as Uncle, SommerDey Rosette as Mindimooyenh, and an ensemble of Ravin Hasan, Therese Hoberg, Dante Kramber, André LaRose, Nora Mason, and Trajan Poolaw.

Bowwow Powwow runs through September 27 in downtown Hopkins. Tickets cost $20 for ages 2 to 17 and 60 and up, $22 for other adults, and $5 for a lap pass for kids 3 and under. Stages is also setting aside complimentary tickets for Indigenous community members, up to four per household. Families who want to connect the play back to its source can catch Brenda J. Child in person on September 19 at 9 a.m., when she’ll be at the theater for a meet-and-greet and book signing.

Once the Hopkins run ends, the show goes on the road. Stops include Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College on October 3, the Minnesota History Center on October 10, and the Minneapolis American Indian Center on October 11, taking Windy Girl’s story to audiences well beyond where it started.

For more information and ticketing, visit: https://www.stagestheatre.org/show/bowwow-powwow/