Sponsor Packet "The Circle of Chawce"
The Jacobson House Native Art Center has proudly partnered with Native Writer and Director, Randi LeClair (Pawnee), who is on a journey of making "The Circle of Chawce" come to life. Support Native Film and Native Arts by contributing to our final push of fundraising, which will enable us to tell this powerful Native American story of the Pawnee people.
Synopsis
The Circle of Chawce is a fantastical tale about ten-year-old Otterboy Givers, relating the history behind his "family treasure" for his 4th grade show-and-tell assignment. We open our live action portion of the story in a rural Oklahoma classroom, where the children of the class are mostly weary after nearly an hour of listening to boring stories of acquired family trinkets. The mood shifts and interests are piqued, however, once Otterboy enters the classroom, driving a platform cart, hauling a large cardboard box.
Otterboy wastes no time by delving into his "family treasure" origin story. He takes us back to the year 1860 to his family's original homelands on the Nebraska Territory plains. Through puppetry and the Pawnee language, we meet Otterboy's great-great grandmother, Wren, who for years has been unsuccessful at producing a fruitful garden for her family. She and her family have had to become reliant on Wren's parents' and fellow villagers' gardens for sustenance.
While some in the village tease and even bully Wren relentlessly for being a bad horticulturalist, nevertheless, she remains determined to one day raise healthy, delicious crops that can feed the village--even the ones who doubt her abilities.
When catastrophe hits the villagers' gardens, everyone is shocked to discover that the only garden left unharmed and full of robust vegetables, is Wren's garden. Wren later learns the real reason why her garden was spared and vows to care for and honor her family's miracle for the rest of her life.
Back in the classroom, Otterboy concludes his story. The children are fully engaged and are literally on the edge of their seats. Claiming to have his great-great grandmother Wren's "miracle family treasure," the students begin heckling him. Otterboy then quickly unveils his mysterious "family treasure" hidden in the large cardboard box, stunning and surprising his classmates and teacher.
Writer & Director - "The Circle of Chawce"
Randi LeClair (Pawnee Nation) graduated from Oklahoma State University with a BA in English (Creative Writing) and the University of Oklahoma with a Master of Professional Writing (MPW). In 2010, she received a Sundance Native Filmmaker’s Lab Fellowship for her short script, “The Other Side of the Bridge.” In 2015, she was awarded another Sundance Native Filmmaker’s Lab Fellowship for the production of “The Other Side of the Bridge,” which premiered at the Tulsa American Film Festival. Her short film, “Rariihuuru”, aka The Letter, about Pawnee baseball player Moses YellowHorse, premiered at the Native Crossroads Film Festival and Symposium at the University of Oklahoma in 2017. The same year, she also directed the play Blood Boundary for the Native American New Play Festival. In 2020, she earned an LA SkinsFest Native American Feature Film Writer’s Lab fellowship. In the summer of 2022, LeClair was awarded a Vision Maker Media Creative Shorts Fellowship for her short film, “The Circle of Chawce,” which is currently in pre-production. Most recently, LeClair (along with her co-writer/husband, Todd,) won the SeriesFest Storytellers Initiative for her pilot, “Cross X Stitches.”
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