Hometown:
Dates in Sitka: 2014-01
Our winter 2014 residency featured Mona Susan Power and Galway McCullough, who worked on a creative theater piece that explores the roots of sexual violence against women.
Susan (Mona) Power is returning to Sitka for her second residency with the Island Institute. She first came in 2010 through United States Artists and the Rasmuson Foundation as a US Artist Fellow. Power says:
“Headlines every day carry the most horrific stories of the ways women are exploited and harmed, tales that leave us frustrated and heartbroken. My activism often manifests inart—telling a story in a way that moves an audience so overwhelmed with the daily spill of bad news they are numb.”
Power is an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and a native Chicagoan. She is the author of three books: The Grass Dancer, a novel (awarded a PEN/Hemingway prize); Roofwalker, a collection of stories and histories (awarded a Milkweed National Fiction Prize); and Sacred Wilderness, a forthcoming nove (available in February 2014)l. Her short fiction and essays have been widely published in journals and anthologies in the U.S. and European countries. She lives and teaches in St. Paul, Minnesota, and also makes a living as a public speaker and performer. She has given presentations at universities, libraries, literary festivals and conferences throughout the world.
Galway McCullough wears many hats in his work as a storyteller, including
actor, fight director/stunt coordinator, director and producer. He has performed leading roles in theater and film in the Twin Cities and New York as well as national and regional tours. Recent challenging roles include Stephen Belber and nine other roles in “The Laramie Project;” and title character, Bill W., in “Bill W. and Dr.Bob;” and the short film “The Sound” (hopefully you’ll be able to see it at a festival near you, soon!). While attending Beloit College a summer-time extra-credit project led to his becoming the foreman during the construction of, then tour guide and manager of, Wa-Swa-Goning — a recreated Ojibwe village on the Lac Du Flambeau reservation in Northern Wisconsin.
Regarding his collaboration with Power, McCullough says
“The working title of our collboration is “Rape Culture” since we’re interested in exploring the power dynamics that help foster this all too pervasive violence. … I can think of few issues which hinder vital communities worldwide more than the one we will be examining. … This topic cuts close to home for me as I’ve known far too many people who have bee victimized and wounded in ways that haunt them.”