Rhiana Yazzie

Rhiana Yazzie is a 2021 Lanford Wilson and 2020 Steinberg Award winning playwright, a director, and filmmaker. A Navajo Nation citizen (Ta’neeszahnii bashishchiin dóó Táchii’nii dashinalí), she is the Artistic Director of New Native Theatre, which she started in 2009 as a response to the lack of connection and professional opportunities between Twin Cities theaters and the Native community. New Native Theatre is the recipient of the 2023 Headwaters Bush Prize. In 2018 Rhiana was named a Bush Foundation Leadership Fellow and was recognized with a 2018/17 Sally Award for Vision. Her new play, The Other Children of the Sun will premiere at The Kennedy Center in 2025. She is currently writing plays for Solas Nua & Ireland’s Fishamble theaters, Long Wharf Theatre & Rattlestick Theater, and the University of New Mexico. In 2023, she directed the US premiere of Missing at the Anchorage Opera in 2023 and is now working on her first libretto, Little Ones, with Annishinaabe composer Danielle Jagelski. She wrote, produced and directed her debut feature film, A Winter Love (Best Narrative Feature, 2023 Minnesota Film Festival; Achievement in Directing, LA Skins Festival), which has been in mainstream and Indigenous film festivals around the globe. She is a graduate of the University of Southern California’s Masters of Professional Writing where she produced events featuring Stephen Hawking, Herbie Hancock, and Spalding Gray. Rhiana is a writer on AMC’s Dark Winds and is working on her second feature film.