Media Contact: Laurie Mellas-Ramirez, 277-5915 Contact: David Velarde, 254-9187

Feb. 10, 2003 DULCE NATIVE EXPLORES CONTEMPORARY NATIVE AMERICAN LIFE WRITING FOR SCREEN, STAGE A University of New Mexico graduate student enrolled in the College of Fine Arts Dramatic Writing Program, David Velarde is in the midst of recreating a murder - on paper, for the stage. Velarde, a Jicarilla Apache and native of Dulce, N.M., aims to share the story of James Harry Reyos, also a Jicarilla Apache, who is serving a 38-year prison term in Texas for the murder of a priest in Odessa some 20 years ago. Many who study the case, including the playwright, believe Reyos is innocent. As many pages into his play as Reyos is into his prison sentence, Velarde is writing a full-length play using evidence that places Reyos in Roswell, N.M., at the time of the murder. An eyewitness, time-stamped receipts and traffic ticket are on his side. "Everything revolves around the time of the murder. Everything else is beside the point," Velarde said. That includes testimony that Reyos was plagued by alcohol, a demon Velarde wrestled free of several years ago and now chases with his writing. Whether in poetry or the pages of a screen or stage play, Velarde's words capture the pain and consequences of alcohol's role in contemporary Native American life. "I can count on one hand the number of Native Americans involved with playwriting and screenwriting," Velarde said. "I feel like I have something to say." Velarde graduated from Dulce high school in 1976 and then worked for the Jicarilla Apache Tribe directing a national youth program. "I wanted to be a lawyer. I was always idealistic," he said. He first came to UNM in 1982 part-time. In 1987, he began writing poetry and from 1994-96 attended the Institute for American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe. There he met Native American playwright William S. YellowRobe who served as a mentor. He returned to UNM and earned a bachelor's in university studies in 2000. He graduates this spring with a master's in fine arts with an emphasis in dramatic writing. "When I started writing all that was within me came to the surface," said Velarde, who has an assortment of stories to tell - his own, his family's, his people's. He is the son of a WWII Army Ranger who fought in the D-Day invasion at Normandy. His brother also took the call and served as a tunnel rat in Vietnam. Velarde has five sisters and two sons - David, 23, and Talon, 19, a sophomore at UNM-Gallup Campus. His poetry has been published in three IAIA anthologies and UNM's literary publication Blue Mesa Review. In addition to two plays, "Bubba," performed at UNM's Words Afire Festival last year, and "Rez Mutts," which earned a prize at the 1995 IAIA Playwriting Festival, he has finished two screenplays, a medium he prefers. "You can include in film what you can't in a play due to physical limitations," he said. His screenplay "Shima" which in the Diné language means "my mother," explores a mother/son relationship. While the son lies dying of cancer, he comes to terms with how his drinking has alienated the duo. In his screenplay "Pow-Wow Blues," a young Apache boy returns from boarding school to meet a girl at the Gathering of Nations Pow-Wow in Albuquerque where they come into contact with a friend whose inebriated act lands him in the judicial system charged with murder. For now, Velarde concentrates on his graduate project - bringing Reyos' story to the stage. Velarde learned about the painful saga from UNM professor and playwright Digby Wolfe who wants the play to be directed and performed with a professional cast at UNM this fall and later at other venues such as Rhodes Hall, University of California, Los Angeles. The play includes some of Velarde's poetry and uses a chorus - characters who keep an audience in touch with key points in the story, both tragic and comic. Velarde agrees his plays have more than a touch of both, but they also offer hope. "They are a reflection of my life," he said. ###

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