In December of 2007, as part of its Native Theater Festival, the Public Theater brought Native theater professionals from around the U.S. and Canada to New York City for a series of readings and discussions. The five-day festival included play readings, post-performance discussions, concerts, roundtables, and the performance of Darrell Dennis' 'Tales of and Urban Indian.' This video documents an interview with Joy Harjo, conducted by Elizabeth Theobald Richards as a part of a supplementary Native Theater Festival interview series.

Joy Harjo is an internationally known poet, performer, writer and musician. She was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She received her B.A. from the University of New Mexico in creative writing, and her MFA from the University of Iowa Writers Workshop. She has published seven books of acclaimed poetry, including such well known titles as 'She Had Some Horses,' and 'The Woman Who Fell From the Sky.' She has won numerous awards for her poetry and writing, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas; the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America, and the Eagle Spirit Achievement Award for overall contributions in the arts, from the American Indian Film Festival, among others. Harjo has performed internationally, from the Riddu Riddu Festival held north of Arctic Circle in Norway to Def Poetry Jam on HBO, Madras, India to the La Casita Series of the Lincoln Center, to the Ford Theater in Los Angeles. When not teaching and performing she lives in Honolulu, Hawaii. She is member of the Muskoke/Creek Nation in Oklahoma.

Elizabeth Theobald Richards is an experienced arts administrator, strategic planner, theater artist and Native arts advocate. An enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, she is the first Native American to serve as a Program Officer at the Ford Foundation. She was Director of the Public Programs for the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center in Connecticut, the largest tribal museum and library in the U.S. She oversaw the planning, development and implementation of all interpretive, educational and artistic programs presented to the public. For the past twelve years she has also worked as a playwright and director, developing scripts by Native American writers and has successfully brokered artistic connections between Native artists, mainstream organizations and other ethnic/racial groups.