Close Encounter/Future Stories ROOM IN OUR HOUSE

A collaboration of MICHELLE SCHENANDOAH / Rematriation (Haudenosaunee, USA) & NICOLE BEUTLER / Nicole Beutler Projects (NL/D) and a close encounter in search of future stories in times of the climate crisis. It is time for white people to listen to indigenous voices.

Supported by Nicole Beutler Projects, Syracuse stage, Rematriation, The Treman Center, Dutch Funds for the Arts, Amsterdam Funds for the Arts.

A unique co-creation of two strong women on a mission: thought leader Michelle Schenandoah (Oneida/Haudenosaunee) and Nicole Beutler (Netherlands/Germany). Both are women committed to a better world; a world in which the people remember how to live together in peace as humans and with all that is alive on planet earth.

With ROOM IN OUR HOUSE the Dutch and Haudenosaunee encounter each other again after 400 years in search of transformation, encouraging learning and healing. We share a history in the form of the Two-Row-Wampum.

We listen and hold the space for struggle, intergenerational trauma and uncertainties, aiming to provide imagination for a better world together.  Because a paradigm shift is necessary and possible if humanity wants to survive.

On stage two dancers, one from the US, one from Europe and one storyteller, in search of transformation, encouraging learning and healing after 400 years of the Two Row Wampum.

ROOM IN OUR HOUSE will be rehearsed and created in upstate New York, Syracuse and performed in theatres and on festivals in the USA, the Netherlands and further in Europe in the seasons 2025/2026/2027.

MICHELLE SCHENANDOAH is an inspirational speaker, writer, thought leader and traditional member of the Onʌyota':aka (Oneida) Nation Wolf Clan of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. She is the founder of the non-profit Rematriation dedicated to uplifting Indigenous women’s voices. Raised in a family of traditional leadership, she carries the values and responsibilities of being a Haudenosaunee woman throughout her life. Through her storytelling as a filmmaker, writer and speaker, Michelle creates safe spaces to share tools and resources that she has learned from her own healing journey and lived experiences. She is also co-founder, owner and principal at Indigenous Concepts Consulting with her husband, Neal Powless.
www.rematriation.org

Over the past twenty years, NICOLE BEUTLER has made her mark on the performing arts field with her unique approach combining dance, performance, music theatre and fine art. She creates theatre as mind-blowing Gesamtkunstwerk for the small and big stages. She received numerous nominations and awards including the prestigious VSCD Mime Prize (2009 & 2020/21) from the dutch union of city theatres, the Dioraphte Prize (2014) and the award for groundbreaking music theatre from MusicTheatreNOW (2021). Additionally, Beutler was awarded the honorable Gieskes-Strijbis Podiumprijs for her diverse oeuvre (2018). In all of her works she focusses on the relation of humankind to the planet in times of the climate crisis, in search of alternative perspectives, hope and learning.