Ty Defoe is an Ojibwe and

Oneida Oneida may refer to: Native American/First Nations * Oneida people, a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy * Oneida language * Oneida Indian Nation, based in New York * Oneida Na ...

performance artist, activist, and writer living in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Defoe grew up in Wisconsin in the Ojibwe and Oneida communities of his parents. Defoe is two-spirit, a term used in many Native American nations to indicate

gender fluidity Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...

, non-traditional gender roles, or

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

ness. He began his performative life as a toddler when he learned to

hoop dance Hoop or Hoops may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Hoops'' (TV series), an American animated series Music * Hoops (band), an American indie pop band * ''Hoops'' (album), a 2015 album by The Rubens ** "Hoops" (Th ...

. Defoe continues to hoop dance in his performances, along with eagle dancing,

puppetry Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. Such a perform ...

, and other various art forms. With Lakota playwright and choreographer Larissa Fasthorse, Defoe founded Indigenous Direction, a "a consulting firm that helps organizations and individuals who want to create accurate work by, for and with Indigenous peoples". Indigenous Direction's clients include The Guthrie Theater.

Career

Defoe holds degrees from the California Institute of the Arts, Goddard College, and New York University's Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at Tisch School of the Arts. He works with indigenous populations such as the

Alaska Native Heritage Center The Alaska Native Heritage Center is an educational and cultural institution for all Alaskans, located in Anchorage, Alaska. The center opened in 1999. The Alaska Native Heritage Center shares the heritage of Alaska's 11 major cultural groups. T ...

and the Hawaiian Playwrights Initiative, among others. He is also a member of the youth council at the East Coast Two-Spirit Society. He received a Grammy award for Best Native American Music Album for his work on Come to Me Great Mystery: Native American Healing Songs. Defoe is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America. DeFoe has written, produced, and performed in many theatre productions, including ''Clouds are Pillows for the Moon, In the Cards, Heather Henson's Flight: A Crane’s Story, Tick, Tick,'' and ''Honor +Family.'' Additionally, he collaborated on the Grammy Award-winning album, ''Come to Me Great Mystery,'' featuring the work of several Native American musicians. Beginning in June 2018, he, with

Kate Bornstein Katherine Vandam Bornstein (born March 15, 1948) is an American author, playwright, performance artist, actor, and gender theorist. In 1986, Bornstein started identifiying as gender non-conforming and has stated "I don't call myself a woman, ''and ...

, portrayed stage versions of themselves as "interlocutors of indeterminate gender" in the Broadway premiere of

Young Jean Lee Young Jean Lee is an American playwright, director, and filmmaker. She was the Artistic Director of Young Jean Lee's Theater Company, a not-for-profit theater company dedicated to producing her work. She has written and directed ten shows for Yo ...

's play ''

Straight White Men ''Straight White Men'' is a 2014 American play by Young Jean Lee. The play's 2018 production at the Hayes Theater made Lee the first Asian American woman to have a play produced on Broadway. Background Much of ''Straight White Men'' was born out ...

.''

List of theatre works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Defoe, Ty Native American dramatists and playwrights Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Two-spirit people LGBT dramatists and playwrights Non-binary dramatists and playwrights Native American performance artists