MARIN SHAKESPEARE HONORS MIWOK

Marin Shakespeare Company hosted a
multimedia presentation, “We Are Huuku’i’ko,”
by founding members of the Coast Miwok Tribal
Council of Marin, in its new indoor performance
space on Fourth Street in San Rafael. The June 29
event was a fundraiser to support the council’s
initiatives in both their tribal community and
public educational programs.
“We’re very conscious that both our Fourth
Street location and our outdoor theater at Forest
Meadows are on unceded Coast Miwok land,”
said Lesley Currier, managing director of Marin
Shakespeare Company. “So we started with the
idea of doing a blessing, then quickly realized an
acknowledgement is simply performative. In this
situation words alone wouldn’t be enough. We
needed to offer our space to the council to create
something much more substantive.”
Out of this realization grew the idea for the
90-minute presentation that included oral history,
traditional land knowledge, story and song, along
with multimedia images of Coast Miwok life and
art, maps of Marin showing the locations of the
largest Coast Miwok villages prior to the Mission
period and more.
“With the rematriation of our land in Nicasio
just a year ago, two important pillars of our work
going forward are education and community

outreach,” said Tribal Council elder Joe Sanchez.
“Both Lesley and the council see this event as just
the first step in building an ongoing relationship.”
Marin Shakespeare Company donated all
proceeds from the afternoon to the council’s
nonprofit arm, Huukuiko Inc.
“The Coast Miwok people took care of this land
for at least 10,000 years,” Currier said. “After
being subjugated, they virtually disappeared from
sight in Marin for more than 150 years. It’s deeply
moving to all of us to welcome them home.”