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'Coyote' plays at SCSU
By Chris Heinitz
 Media Credit: Kim Bucholz Raine Hokan performs in a drama portraying American Indian stories and folklore.
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With a mix of art, humor, American Indian culture and captivating storytelling, Raine Hokan, of Mixed Blood Theatre of Minneapolis, entertained an audience in the Atwood Theatre Tuesday with the American Indian-based tale, "According to Coyote." Lessons and stories in nature, morality, and coming of age paired with song, dance, commentary and humor to comprise the tale. John Kaufman adopted the play in 1990 from the Nez Perce tribes of the Northwest, in particular the Columbia River area, Hokan said. Though the tale is essentially Nez Perce, many of the stories, morals, and explanations of common phenomenon are common throughout American Indian tradition. Coyote begins the story a bratty, foolish, youth. His trickery and deception get him into a few mix-ups in the beginning. However, as the play progresses, the audience is able to slowly watch him mature into a wise, brave, conscientious grown-up. "Coyote can be compared to Christ, except the neat thing is, unlike Christ, he's not perfect, he is a brat," Hokan said. "He, like all of us, evolves into a character of good moral standing, making mistakes along the way." His adventures take him to the stars, to the afterlife, and eventually moral perfection and civil admiration. He sees love, torment, joy, and sorrow. Like Beowulf, Odysseus, and many other mythological heroes, Coyote's name would not carry the weight of legend without slaying a huge beast. Near the end he slays the beast that has been eating members of his people and creates tribes out of their body parts. In the end, however, Coyote, on his trip up to heaven, is chastised by those who he has done wrong in the past, and is unable to enter. Dejected and miserable, he withdraws into the sneaky, slinky, secretive, lifestyle common to all coyotes today. The play is an illustration of the richness and vitality present throughout all of American Indian culture. In the visual society we live in, imagination and storytelling are often forgotten and replaced with television and other forms of media. Hokan finds joy in preserving this priceless, often forgotten art form. Besides his clothing and makeup, which evolves into traditional American Indian garb, few props are used. The story is dependent on Hokan's storytelling ability. To Hokan, a descendent of the Red Lake Ojibwe near Bemidji, the story is very relevant. Now in his fifth season with the Mixed Blood Theatre, he received his theatrical schooling at the University of Minnesota-Morris, later going on to work with the Twin Cities Professional Theatre, and finally joining Mixed Blood in 1998. "I really enjoy doing it, I am going to miss it," Hokan said of the play. The Mixed Blood Theatre began in Minneapolis in 1976, and according to the Mixed Blood Web site, is "dedicated to the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King's dream." It has blossomed into a successful program "promoting cultural pluralism, and individual equality through artistic excellence." Mixed Blood offers eight various works, spotlighting leaders in the civil rights movement and other culturally based productions. They tour throughout the United States, primarily the Midwest, culturally enlightening mainly high school and college audiences throughout.
Mixed Blood Online
Point your browser to www.mixedblood.org for showtimes, venues, shows and an explanation of this theater group. The Mixed Blood Theatre is based out of Minneapolis and is dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King's dream since 1976.
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