JULIE PEARSON LITTLE THUNDER
ARTIST BIO
I am a BIPOC playwright of mixed Irish, Mvskoke Creek, and African American heritage, living in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with my husband, artist Merlin Little Thunder. My theater and film background includes my own Native theater company, Tulsa Indian Actors' Workshop, later Thunderroad Theater, from 1993–2011. Three of my original plays were selected for workshopping by LA-based Native Voices, and my newest play, Southern Fantasia, was selected for a 2024 podcast performance by Dean Theatre Productions. My scriptwriting also includes the documentary Chilocco Through the Years, Indian on Horseback, and The Self She Is Now, about Indigenous caregiving. In 2025, I was co-awardee of an NEA planning grant with my husband, Merlin Little Thunder and the Cheyenne Arapaho Tribe of Oklahoma to adapt a traditional Cheyenne story, “The Girl and the Woodchuck” into a short, bilingual animated film.
ARTIST PROJECT INFO
The Self She Is Now is the first feature film to portray the challenges of elder caretaking from the cultural perspective of an Indigenous family from Oklahoma. Its use of humor and Native spirituality, along with the economic realities of caregiving, will resonate with Native communities throughout the country. At the same time, its depiction of the complex interpersonal and gender dynamics that accompany caregiving has a universal relevance. While touching on some of the major aspects of Alzheimer's and dementia, The Self She Is Now also tells a story of grace, emotional connection, and unexpected moments of beauty.
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