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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Tuesday 9 July 2019

Alaska Native girl leads animated kids TV show in US first

By RACHEL D'ORO nation's first-ever children's
Associated Press series featuring indigenous
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) leads.
— Princess Daazhraii John- The animated show, which
son grew up eating dried premieres July 15 on PBS
salmon and moose-head Kids, highlights the adven-
soup — foods labeled tures of a 10-year-old Atha-
weird by other kids who bascan girl, Molly Mabray.
had no understanding of Her family owns the Denali
her culture and traditions. Trading Post in the fictitious
Now the Fairbanks woman community of Qyah, whose
and other Alaska Natives residents are both Native
are presenting their world and non-Native.
to a general audience "We have an opportunity
with "Molly of Denali," the with this show, with 'Molly

This image released by PBS shows characters, from left, Tooey, voiced by Sequoia Janvier, Trini,
voiced by Vienna Leacock and Molly, voiced by Sovereign Bill, in a scene from the animated
series "Molly of Denali."
Associated Press
of Denali,' to inform and to It turns out the grandfather populated by multiple Na-
show us in a positive and had given up singing along tive groups with their own
respectful light," says John- with the drum after he was diverse cultures and lan-
son, creative producer of sent away — as scores of guages.
the series and a member Native children once were Gillim said she long wanted
of an Athabascan group, — to boarding school, to do a show featuring a
Neets'aii Gwich'in. where students were pro- store that's a social center
Her family has roots in Arc- hibited from practicing for locals, like a local store
tic Village, Alaska, but she their tribal songs amid lan- of the Rochester, New York-
grew up all over the state, guage suppression efforts. based Wegmans grocery
she says, including sum- The story ends with the chain was for her growing
mers spent with her grand- grandfather reconnecting up in that city. And WGBH
mother in the Gwich'in vil- with those cherished tradi- co-creator Kathy Waugh
lage of Fort Yukon. tions. always wanted to do one
Native Americans voice Bill said her maternal grand- on an outdoorsy girl. The
the indigenous charac- mother also had been sent store became a trading
ters in the series, which is away to boarding school. post when the creators de-
co-produced by Boston- Given her family's back- cided to place it in Alaska
based WGBH and anima- ground, Bill's mother was after hearing that then-
tion partner Atomic Car- nearly brought to tears be- President Barack Obama
toons in collaboration with cause of the story's "good visited the state in 2015.
Alaska Native advisers and message," the teen said. "We knew immediately that
script writers. "It's able to pass on that we needed to partner with
Molly is voiced by 14-year- message through a kind Alaska Natives to develop
old Sovereign Bill of Auburn, and loving and kid-friendly it so that it was truly authen-
Washington. Bill, who au- way," she said. "But it's still tic," Gillim said.
ditioned for the role after teaching and it's still giving Among those advisers is
hearing about it through a those important values." Anchorage resident Ro-
Seattle-based Native youth As for Johnson's childhood chelle Adams, a Gwich'in
theater group, is a member food favorites, dried fish Athabascan linguist who
of the Muckleshoot Indian makes an appearance still lives part time in the
tribe in Washington and the in the show. What about tiny Yukon River village of
T'ak Dein Taan clan of the moose-head soup? "Not Beaver in Alaska's interior,
Tlingit tribe from the south- yet," Johnson says with a where people continue to
east Alaska community of laugh. live a subsistence lifestyle,
Hoonah. Following the longer pre- hunting for moose and
Bill said her mother was miere, the 30-minute show black bear.
deeply touched by one will run mornings seven In 2016, Adams and other
of the stories in the hour- days a week, according advisers met with Gillim
long premiere: a look at to WGBH executive pro- for two days in Fairbanks
Molly's grandfather, who ducer Dorothea Gillim. in what Adams describes
left his traditional drum PBS ordered 38 half-hour as an intensive time flesh-
with a friend way back in episodes besides the pre- ing out the characters and
his youth. Molly goes on to miere, with 13 episodes set their community. Adams
find the friend and drum in for the first rotation. said she hopes the series
another community, using Each episode also includes educates the world amid
clues in an old photo of her a short video featuring so many misconceptions
grandfather and his friend real Alaska Native children about the state and Alaska
to search the internet. living life in a vast state Natives.q