(Giizhig) (he/him/they/we/us)

Movement Director, Mother Road

In one season at OSF: Movement director, Manahatta.

Ty Defoe, from the Oneida and Ojibwe Nations, is a writer, interdisciplinary artist and Grammy Award winner. He learned to hoop dance, eagle dance and play a variety of wooden flutes during visits in community.

Off-Broadway: Masculinity Max  (Public Studio). Broadway: Straight White Men (Second Stage). Tours: Writer/co-director, Ajijaak On Turtle Island  (New Victory Theater/ New York); Call for Peace Drum and Dance Company (Egypt); Ankara International Music Festival (Greece, Japan, Turkey).

Other: Book and lyrics, Clouds Are Pillows for the Moon with composer Tidtaya Sinutoke (Yale Institute for Musical Theatre, ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop); Hart Island Requiem  (The Civilians R&D Group, Goodspeed Musicals); Red Pine (Native Voices at the Autry; IAIA); The Way They Lived  (The Civilians). Member, First Nations Theater Guild, Two Spirit Society; co-founder, Indigenous Direction.

TV: Netflix appearances; Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

Awards: NEA/NEFA, Drum is Thunder, Flute is Wind; FAITA Outstanding Performance Award, Scholarship Award; Indigenous Heritage Festival Award; Robert Rauschenberg Artist in Residence; 2017 Jonathan Larson Award. 

Training: CalArts; Goddard College; NYU/Tisch; artEquity facilitator.

tydefoe.com