DeLanna Studi is a proud citizen of the Cherokee Nation with 30 years of experience as a performer, storyteller, playwright, and activist. Her theater credits include the First National Broadway Tour of Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning play August: Osage County, Off- Broadway’s Gloria: A Life (Daryl Roth Theatre), Informed Consent (Duke Theater on 42nd Street), and Regional Theaters (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Portland Center Stage, Cornerstone, and Indiana Repertory Theater). Her first play And So We Walked: Along the Trail of Tears retells her journey when she retraced her family’s footsteps along the Trail of Tears with her father. And So We Walked has toured throughout the country and was the first American play chosen for the Journees Theatricales de Carthage in Tunisia, Africa. Recently, it made its Off-Broadway debut at Minetta Lane where it was recorded for Audible. In film and television, DeLanna starred in the Peabody Award winning Edge of America, Hallmark’s Dreamkeeper, Goliath, Shameless, General Hospital, Reservation Dogs, and Disney’s Launchpad Series. She has served as a cultural liaison and the Artistic Director of Native Voices at the Autry, the only Equity Theatre in the country developing and producing plays written by Native American playwrights. DeLanna is a 2022 United States Artists Fellow.

I is for Invisible: Gabby Petito. Natalee Holloway. Laci Peterson. You know these names. You’ve heard these names. These women were missing; at one point, all of America knew their names, faces, and stories, and all of America was actively searching for them. Late journalism pioneer Gwen Ifill dubs this “missing white woman syndrome.”This syndrome further illuminates the stark contrast with how the media, law enforcement, and the United States handle the staggering amount of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW) cases. I is for Invisible is an intimate look into the Not Afraid family as they search and seek justice for their lost loved one. How do you find justice in a system created to eradicate you instead of helping you? Who do you turn to when you know the system has your hands tied? I is for Invisible explores sovereignty, power, and family using Cherokee traditions, cosmology, and humor. It is a testament to hope, resiliency, and the many missing Indigenous women whose stories never make it to the evening news but whose voices cry out to be heard.

My practice in playwriting and theatre is at a point where after years of breaking trail as a Native American woman, my voice is being actively sought out. My passion for this work and years of experience in this field have necessitated me to advocate for Indigenous people and women. As Artistic Director of Native Voices, the only Equity theatre in the country dedicated to developing and producing new plays by Indigenous playwrights, my days center around leading initiatives for Indigenous artists, holding talking circles for Native youth, creating workshops, facilitating meetings, organizing EDIA objectives, creating work opportunities, and providing career guidance for Native actors and playwrights, while caring for my father in Cherokee Nation. 

Whether I intend to be or not, I am an example. My actions are watched (and sometimes mirrored), especially by Native communities and youth. This award would help me balance my individual artistic endeavors while enhancing my ability to be a resource for and amplify other voices. It would allow me to attend writing residencies and expand my network. It would provide the luxury of time to focus on my writing. By recognizing the artistic work of an individual, especially one devoted to community and social justice, we set an example that this work is of value. 

Our past informs who we are today, and this grant will enable me to use mine to impact and empower our future.