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Madeline Sayet
Madeline Sayet, a director, writer, and performer, grew up in Norwhich and Uncasville, Connecticut. She was brought up on stories and traditions of the Mohegan tribe from her great-aunt Gladys Tantaquidgeon, former Medicine Woman, and her mother Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel, current Medicine Woman. Sayet also holds ancestral ties to Fidelia Fielding who was the last fluent speaker of the Mohegan language, and passed away in 1908; these ties serve as an influence for much of her work. From a young age, oral traditions and storytelling all played a major role in her work. In high school, Sayet took part at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center's National Puppetry Conference. Post graduation, she went on to study under the Atlantic Theater Company at New York University as part of the Tisch School of the Arts. After receiving her BFA in Theater, she went on to continue her studies as part of the graduate program, where she received her MA in Arts Politics and Post-Colonial Theory, at NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Study. During this time she co-founded and directed the Mad & Merry Threatre Company. Sayet changed classical pieces to incorporate her own culture.

Early in Sayet's directing and writing career, she chose to remake the Shakespeare classic "The Tempest" It was her first trial in incorporating Mohegan language and culture into a classic piece. It served as her graduate thesis at New York University and was brought onstage at the Brooklyn Lyceum. Later in her career, Sayet directed for the Glimmerglass Opera, including a production of "Magic Flute," in 2015. Sayet also directed “Sliver of a Full Moon” which is a play about the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) that pays tribute to the re-authorization that occurred in 2013. It aims to get the audience to see Native women that were affected by violence to be seen as human beings rather than symbols. Sayet furthered her career when she wrote "Daughters of Leda," a play that chronicles the stories of well-known mythological characters such as: Leda and The Swan, Adam and Eve, Helen, Clytemnestra, Iphigenia, and Electra from the female perspective. The production was part of the Women Center Stage Festival, the Dream Up Festival, and Dixon Place's Works-In-Progress. She is the recipient of the White House Champion of Change Award for Native America for her work as a director, writer, performer and educator.

Because culture is such a big part of her work, she learned that in Mohegan, her job is called "Kutayun Uyasunaquock" which means "Our Heart She Leads Us There."

Continuing as a "Kutayun Uyasunaquock," She is currently the Resident Artistic Director at Amerinda, Inc ., the Artistic Director of the Mad & Merry Theatre Company, a Van Lier Directing Fellow at Second Stage Theatre, and a Creative Community Fellow at National Arts Strategies'.

Awards

 * Leo Bronstein Homage Award— New York University
 * White House Champion of Change Award for Native America

Directing

 * Daughters of Leda, also written by Sayet
 * Powwow Highway written by William S Yellow robe Jr.
 * Miss Lead  written by Kathryn Nagle
 * Uncommon Women and Others  written by Wendy Wasserstein
 * The Tempest  written by William Shakespeare

Writing

 * Daughters of Leda
 * Who Flies Apart 
 * The Pants
 * "When The Whipporwill Calls" in Dawnland Voices: Writing from Indigenous New England 

Theatre

 * Alls Well That Ends Well -- Mad & Merry Theatre Co
 * The Tempest --Mad and Merry Theatre Co
 * Twelfth Night -- The Gene Frankel Theatre
 * Cedars-- The Mirage Theatre Company
 * Measure for Measure-- Kristin Horton
 * The Comedy of Errors -- Flock Theatre
 * A Dream Play --Eugene O'Neill Theater Center
 * The House of Pelops--Eugene O'Neill Theater Center
 * The Taming of the Shrew --Flock Theatre
 * Panther and Crane--Puppets on the Sound/Heather Henson
 * Panther and Crane--Eugene O'Neill Theater Center
 * As You Like It --Flock Theatre
 * The Winter's Tale --Flock Theatre
 * Romeo and Juliet --Flock Theatre

Staged Readings

 * Journey Goodeagle-- The Duke on 42nd St/Liesl Tommy
 * Nicole--Nuyorican Poets Cafe
 * Manahatta --The United Nations/Kate Whoriskey
 * Manahatta --The Public Theater/ Kate Whoriskey
 * EWG Evening of Excerpts--The Public Theater/ Niegel Smith
 * Love in a Time of Blood Quantum--Poetic License Festival
 * Waaxe's Law--The Newseum
 * Waaxe's Law--The Eagle Project
 * Wood Bones --Playwrights Horizons
 * Wood Bones--William Yellowrobe Jr.