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Daniel Leeman Smith

@dleeman

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2S Chahta 🪶
Director & writer of new work, adaptation & ensemble-driven performance
👨‍🎓 Doc Candidate @ NYU
🏡 is NYC

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@michaelhullnyc is literally an absolute magician photographer and such a joy to work with, not to mention one of the most loving and supportive friends to have in your corner. He bailed me out in a pinch and I could not be more grateful!

Giant pitch, if you need headshots, I cannot recommend @michaelhullphoto enough!!!

(Show announcement coming soon 😜) by @dleeman

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3 years ago

I do not have enough words to express how grateful I am to have joined these two fierce-ass artists in the rehearsal room as the Assistant Director on Where We Belong. My heart is full! Thank you for bringing me along for the ride. (also, thanks to @asa_benally_design for secretly coordinating @madsay and I wearing complimentary velvet numbers)

📸 by Andres Otero

#Theatre #Indigenous #IndigenousTheatre #PublicTheater #WoollyMammoth #WhereWeBelong taken in The Public Theater by @dleeman

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4 years ago

Mundo wigo!!! What an honor it has been to work with these fabulous humans on Flying Bird’s Diary at the @longwharftheatre #Indigenous #IndigenousTheatre #Mohegan #FlyingBirdsDiary #Theatre #LongWharfTheatre by @dleeman

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4 years ago

Minneapolis Story Circle: Sharing Our Stories of Alcatraz

Blossom Johnson (Diné) and Daniel Leeman Smith (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) invite you to join them for a community story circle exploring the legacy of the 1969 occupation of Alcatraz Island by Indians of All Tribes. We are gathering stories, memories, reflections, and perspectives to inform a new documentary theatre project about the occupation, its impact, and its ongoing significance for Indigenous communities and movements for sovereignty and self-determination.

The story circle is a chance to come together, share what this history means to you, listen to one another, and help shape how these stories move forward in a good way. We have been commissioned to create a new play, Proclamation to the Great White Father and All His People for the Democracy Cycle at PAC NYC, and each performance will ask audiences to co-imagine what a kinship-centered democracy looks like. We will also be inviting interested participants to take part in individual interviews during our week in Minneapolis.

Whether you have a direct connection to the occupation, remember its impact on your community, or carry stories and perspectives you believe belong in this conversation, we welcome you.

Please join us Monday, October 26th from 5:30 to 8:30 pm at the Minneapolis American Indian Center for pizza, sparkling water, and a good conversation.

Your story matters. Join us in creating space for these histories, memories, and voices to be heard.

Poster Designed by Sierra Edd
@sierrareadiing taken in Minneapolis American Indian Center by @dleeman

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5 days ago

INTRODUCING 💡 The Democracy Cycle Festival 2026 Readings 📚
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These work-in-progress readings offer an early look at a new Democracy Cycle-commissioned project currently in active development. We invite you to be a part of this vital part of the creative process as the artists continue to shape their work.
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CIVILITIES, OR HOW TO SECEDE WITHOUT REALLY TRYING
Jan 17, 2027 at 10am
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By Holly Bass
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SIX NATIONS: ONE FIRE
Jan 17, 2027 at 4pm
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By Vickie Ramirez, Ty Defoe, and Jeanette Harrison
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BARRY, THE 1970S BLACK SITCOM THAT NEVER HAPPENED
Jan 19, 2027 at 2:30pm
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By Nathan Yungerberg
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PROCLAMATION TO THE GREAT WHITE FATHER AND ALL HIS PEOPLE
Jan 23, 2027 at 12pm
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By Daniel Leeman Smith and Blossom Johnson
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Link in bio for full descriptions and to RSVP 🎟️ taken in PAC NYC by @dleeman

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17 days ago

Breaking: a set of triplets wreak havoc on PDX and slay the house down at the first ever National Native Theatre Convening.

Thanks to the @nativeperformingartsnetwork for a wonderful weekend, and for including me in the planning committee. It was my pleasure to serve our vibrant community and to spend the weekend with so many lovely humans/theatre makers. (I didn’t take too many pictures because we prioritized spending time in space with humans, but this carousel is proof it happened.) Until next time!🫶🏼🪶

#NativeTheatre #NationalNativeTheatreConvening taken in Portland State University by @dleeman

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2 months ago

That’s a wrap on our week of development for ayóó’áníísh’ní with @newyorkstageandfilm! Grateful for the chance to explore, make art, and touch some grass with @squashblossomofficial, @joliecloutier, @trevorhosteen, and @endter.exits taken in Marist University by @dleeman

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3 months ago

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4 months ago

Pueblo Revolt - Perseverance Theatre - Juneau, AK - Feb/Mar 2026

📸 by @_raebelles_

This one was a little unhinged in all the best ways.

We had scenes where everyone was dead serious and then someone would undercut it in a way that made the whole room laugh—and we kept choosing to keep both things true.

A lot of rehearsal was just:“is this too much?”and then deciding it wasn’t.

The play lets you get away with that. Or maybe it doesn’t and that’s the point.

There’s something about holding humor and love and revolution against colonial violence that close together that feels more honest than trying to separate them. Very punk rock. Very camp.

Anyway. I miss this room.

Gunalchéesh & Yakoke to everyone involved!

Creative Team & Cast:

Playwright: Dillon Christopher Chitto @dchitto

Director: Daniel Leeman Smith @dleeman

Feem Whim: Kenny Ramos @krayramos
Ba’Homa: Anthony Anaya-Gorman @aanayagorman

Scenic Design: Diggle @diggle_designs

Associate Scenic Design: Marie Laster @ririlaster

Costume Design: Asa Benally @asa_benally_studio

Associate Costume Design: Kate Bergey

Lighting Design: Emma Deane @emma.e.deane

Projection Design: Ryan Anderson @rjt.anderson

Sound Design: Sean-Joseph Choo @hai_choo

Props: Virginia Roldan, Joelle Worthley, Diggle, Marie Laster

Stage Manager: Casey C. Powers

Production: @perseverancetheatre

#IndigenousTheatre #NativeTheatre #NativeAmericanTheatre #PuebloRevolt #AlaskanTheatre by @dleeman

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5 months ago

Pueblo Revolt — Perseverance Theatre, Juneau AK — Feb/Mar 2026

📸 by @_raebelles_

A comedy about occupation.

We staged the play inside a sandbox—an unstable architecture where bodies build, erase, and negotiate power in real time. No fixed ground, no fixed center.

I kept returning to how the play moves: a joke lands, a body falls. Humor here isn’t relief—it’s a tactic. A way of surviving inside systems designed to contain you. The furniture and props are reminiscent of Fisher-Price and our collective youth, evoking the brothers’ loss of innocence.

I am beyond grateful for this cast and creative team and totally blown away by their artistry:

Playwright: Dillon Christopher Chitto @dchitto

Director: Daniel Leeman Smith

Feem Whim: Kenny Ramos @krayramos
Ba’homa: Anthony Anaya-Gorman @aanayagorman

Scenic Design: Diggle @diggle_designs
Associate Scenic Design: Marie Laster @ririlaster
Costumes Design: Asa Benally @asa_benally_studio
Associate Costume Design: Kate Bergey
Lighting Design: Emma Deane @emma.e.deane
Sound Design: Sean-Joseph Choo @hai_choo
Projections: Ryan Anderson @rjt.anderson
Props: Virginia Roldan, Joelle Worthey, Diggle, & Marie Laster
Stage Manager: Casey C. Powers
Production: @perseverancetheatre by @dleeman

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5 months ago

Last week I got to see my sweet friend @brookesimpsonofficial in @bloodloveshow and it was out of this world. Visually stunning and vocally demanding. She was flawless. I keep thinking about it! by @dleeman

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5 months ago

MONSTER SLAYER
By Blossom Johnson
Directed by Daniel Leeman Smith

May 5, 2026

A reading co-produced by PAC NYC and Playwrights Horizons.

Perelman Performing Arts Center and Playwrights Horizons present a reading of monster SLAYer by Blossom Johnson, Diné playwright and screenwriter, in recognition of the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives (MMIWR). Organized by Native Performing Arts Network, theaters across the country will join together to produce readings of plays by Native writers that tackle the crisis of violence facing Indigenous people.

monster SLAYer centers on a family waiting for the birth of twins while mourning a missing daughter and sister. Pregnant Isabella, an author, and her brother Jaiden, an artist, turn to story as survival, conjuring the sacred beings Spider Woman and Horned Toad while creating a superhero comic that helps them process their grief.

Afterwards, there will be a short panel reflecting on the play and discussing the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

PAC NYC and Playwrights Horizons are honored to share this new work from Blossom Johnson, whose mythic approach to loss holds space for grief, care, humor, and resilience.

Blossom Johnson and Daniel Leeman Smith are also 2025 Democracy Cycle commissioned artists with their project Proclamation to the Great White Father and All His People.

Art: @sierrabeading
Diné language and cultural consultant: Brianna Nez @sagebrushbarbie

RSVP in the link in bio to learn more info and stay in the know.

https://pacnyc.org/whats-on/monster-slayer/ by @dleeman

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6 months ago