Nometown Tales

NOMETOWN TALES, directed and facilitated by Ryan Conarro, is an interview-based play generated from students’ community and family interviews exploring histories and communities of Nome, Alaska. Incorporating original songs by Nome singer-songwriter Sarah Hanson Hofstetter, the play tracks the stories of the people who came to Nome and found themselves staying—from families descended from the gold rush that established this frontier city; to Native communities that relocated here, sometimes forcibly by colonial federal authorities; to the playful, idiosyncratic memories of long-time reindeer herders and bush pilots. NOMETOWN TALES offers a community a reflection and a celebration of its own sense of home.

Director, playwright, and lead teaching artist: Ryan Conarro | Interviewers: Students of Anvil City Science Academy, Nome | Scenic design: Sarah Conarro, in collaboration with students | Original music: Sarah Hanson Hofstetter | Accompaniment: Nome’s Landbridge Tollbooth old-time band (Carol Gales, Jim Dory, Laura Davis)

 Commissioned by the Alaska State Council on the Arts Artists In Schools Program. Presented at the Nome Elementary School Auditorium, Nome, Alaska, 2009.