Rediscovering America Through the Arts 

Eagle Project's Community 

Our Founder

Opalanietet (actor, singer, director, writer, and multi-disciplinary artist) is Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape, originally from Southern New Jersey and Delaware. While he grew up around various U.S. cities (Cincinnati, Ohio, Boston, Massachusetts, and the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area), he had the privilege and the honor of receiving his Lenape name, "Little Eagle," on original Lenape land at the age of 12 by his great uncle, the late Rodney "Strong Oak" Edwards.

Opalanietet has appeared on television, in film, and on stages worldwide, including the Public Theater (New York), New York Theater Workshop, New Dramatists (New York), LaMaMa E.T.C., Playwrights Horizons (New York), and New York City Opera at Lincoln Center. In 2020 Opalanietet gave the Land Acknowledgement in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. 

Throughout his career, Opalanietet has also devoted much of his time performing in and helping to develop theatrical works of indigenous people from the U.S. and worldwide. Having a passion for incorporating American voices that aren't frequently heard, especially those of Native Americans, into the performing arts arena, Opalanietet founded the Eagle Project in 2012. 

Opalanietet holds a BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and is currently a Ph.D. student in theatre and performance at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York. He is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA, Actors' Equity Association, AGMA, and AGVA.

Steering Committee

 

Matthew Champagne

Brown Furlow

Meg Riley

Ash Marinaccio

Camille Mazurek

Vicki Lynn Mooney

Miranda Plant

Andrea B. Spiritos 

Tony White

 

Advisory Committee

Elizabeth Frankel
Director of New Work, The Alley Theatre

John Haworth
Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in New York City

Rev. John "Smiling Thunder Bear" Norwood
Councilman and Principal Justice of the Tribal Supreme Court Official of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation

William S. Yellow Robe, Jr.
Artistic Director of the Inter-Tribal Playwrights' Center of Arlee