Gloria Miguel is an actress, playwright, director and choreographer.  She, with her two sisters Elizabeth (Lisa Mayo) and Muriel Miguel, were founders of Spiderwoman Theater, an American indigenous women’s performance troupe, in 1975.  They are descended from the Kuna and Rappahannock tribes.  Their work delved into the deeply personal experiences of indigenous women who are perceived as outsiders by Whites, ‘freaks.’  WOMEN IN VIOLENCE (1976), created from violence done to them as women, seen in New York City, was sent to The World Theater Festival in Nancy, France.  It was a huge success and for the next five years Spiderwoman Theater traveled throughout Canada and Europe.   Miguel’s shows performed at La Mama, E.T.C., Theater for the New City, many churches, conferences and festivals, universities and places (community houses) where Native American groups meet. Despite the complex themes of these shows, humor, music and dance are included to show different perspectives on a topic.  Miguel’s shows with and without Spiderwoman include: THE LYSISTRATA NUMBAH! (1977),  FRIDAY NIGHT, JEALOUSY, MY SISTER ATE DIRT (1978), THE FITTIN’ ROOM (1980), SUN, MOON, AND FEATHER: THE THREE SISTERS FROM HERE TO THERE  (1982),  3 UP 3 DOWN (1986),  WINNETOU’S SNAKE OIL SHOW FROM WIGWAM CITY (1988), REVERB-BER-BER-ATIONS (1990), POWER PIPES (1992), GRANDMA, GRANDPA & THE CARD GAME (1992), THE REZ SISTERS (by Tomson Highway) (1993), DAUGHTERS FROM THE STARS: Nis Bundor (1995), NEUROTIC EROTIC EXOTICS (80s), SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING BORROWED, SOMETHING BLUE (2012), PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY (2002), MATERIAL WITNESS (2017), Mojica Monique’s CHOCOLATE WOMAN DREAMS OF THE MILKY WAY (?), FEAR OF OATMEAL (2018), ONE VOICE (2019).  Miguel has an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio (1997), a Lifetime Achievement Award Women’s Caucus for Art (2010), a Lifetime Achievement Award from Lee Strasberg Studio, and an Otto Rene Castillo Award for Political Theatre (2013), Indigenous People’s Award for Resilience from The First Peoples’ Fund, Rapid City (2020), and The Clara Lemlich Award for Social Activism (2020). Miguel was nominated for a Sterling Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress, in Canada, for her performance in JESSICA. Her plays are published in Contemporary Plays By Women of Color: An Anthology  (Routledge).

Gloria, Elizabeth and Muriel Miguel were born and brought up in an Italian neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York.  Their parents were Native American, father Kuna (San Blas Islands off the Coast of Panama) and mother Rappahannock (Virginia).  The family supplemented their income in the Depression years working ‘carnival side shows’ in an ‘Indian Village’ in Canarsie, Brooklyn. Around the ages of seven and nine Gloria and Elizabeth left the ‘side show’ feeling it fed into a White American stereotype that made them uncomfortable.  Gloria and Elizabeth were closer in age and Muriel was 11 years younger. Gloria had darker skin than her sisters, which made her experiences very different from them.  Elizabeth (renamed by an agent ‘Lisa Mayo’) studied voice, was a mezzo soprano and worked with Walt Witcover.  Muriel went on to become part of The Open Theater with Joseph Chaikin.  Gloria demanded her Jewish émigré Holocaust-survivor husband go to school (he fled Europe before finishing his education) in Stanford, University where he got a PhD in French Literature.  As a French scholar he taught at Oberlin College in Ohio and Gloria became a Faculty Wife.  She also applied for and received a Native American Scholarship at Oberlin and studied with Herbert Blau and Bill Irwin (in clowning).  Around 1975 Muriel decided to start a feminist theater group which, when it incorporated Elizabeth and Gloria, focused on Native American as well as feminist issues.  Now the very different experiences each of the sisters had throughout their lives involving racism, violence, White privilege, being women and being part of a vast and rich Native culture allowed them to ‘weave’ stories pertinent to every race and religion.  Their success throughout the world in countries of different cultures and languages is a testament to the ‘truth of existence’ they are able to express in their work.