William S. Yellow Robe Jr. | |
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| Born | February 4, 1960 Poplar, Montana[1] |
| Died | July 19, 2021 (aged 61) Bangor, Maine |
| Occupation |
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| Nationality | Fort Peck Assiniboine |
| Genre | Native American literature |
| Notable works | Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers: And Other Untold Stories, Where the Pavement Ends |
| Notable awards | First Nations Book Award for Drama |
William S. Yellow Robe Jr. (February 4, 1960 – July 19, 2021) was an Assiniboine actor, author, director, educator, playwright, and poet.[2]
A member of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Yellow Robe was raised by his mother on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana.[3] He studied writing and performing arts at the University of Montana.[4]
Yellow Robe's works have been performed in venues across the United States, including the Penumbra Theatre Company in St. Paul;[5] the Public Theater in New York;[6] the Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, RI;[7] and the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.[8] He was a member of Penumbra, as well as the Ensemble Studio Theater,[9] Amerinda, Inc.,[2] and the advisory board for Red Eagle Soaring Native Youth Theatre.[10]
Yellow Robe has also taught at the Institute of American Indian Arts, Brown University,[11] and the University of Maine.[12]
He died following a long illness in Bangor on July 19, 2021.[13] The day after he died, Yellow Robe was named the recipient of a $40,000 award in recognition of his contributions to theatre.[14] His papers joined the many playwright and poetry archives at the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin in 2022 and are available there for research.[15]
