ARTIST BIO

M. Cochise Anderson (Chickasaw/Choctaw) musician, actor, poet, spoken word performance artist, playwright, storyteller, and educator - studied at Portland (OR) State University and at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in NYC. Cochise received the Jerome Fellowship for playwriting The Education of Benjamin Franklin and the Bush Artist Fellowship for Storytelling/ Performance Art The Only Good Poet is a Read Poet. He has performed at The National Museum of the American Indian twice and The Open House Arts Festival at the Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. He has also been a repeat performer at the Lincoln Center Outdoors Series in New York City. As an award-winning playwright he has extended his craft by initiating a creative writing/spoken word theater for young Native students in the Twin Cities area. Cochise has been the instructor for The Penumbra Theatre's Summer Youth Institute and he has worked as a Native American cultural arts educator for the past seventeen years throughout the country. From elementary schools to colleges and national cultural institutions he has developed a variety of curriculums and programs to entertain and educate all people about the beauty and struggle of Native America.

Cochise, an accomplished professional actor, has appeared in off-off Broadway and regional productions as well as Film and Television. He founded and was the artistic director of Chuka Lokoli (Community), Native American Theatre Ensemble in NY with The Ensemble Studio Theatre. His acting credits include, (TV) The Cosby Show, Homicide: Life On The Streets, (Film) Daughters of The Dust, Bill's Gun Shop, and (Theatre) To Kill A Mockingbird, Great American History Theatre and he originated the title role of The Independence of Eddie Rose, Seattle Group Theatre. He recently completed a national tour playing Stevie Jackson in William S. Yellowrobe's play Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers, Penumbra Theatre and Trinity Repertory Company. This summer Cochise was Kanati in the new retelling of "Unto These Hills" at Mountainside Theatre in Cherokee, NC.

Cochise Anderson's album, The Kemosabe Therapy an eclectic ensemble of word songs, was nominated for the 2005 Indian Summer Music Awards in the category of Spoken Word.