“Frybread Face and Me” director Billy Luther is adapting his 2007 documentary “Miss Navajo” into a musical, which is currently in development.
Now, 19 years after the world premiere at 2007’s Sundance Film Festival, Luther has teamed up with singer-songwriter Raye Zaragoza to bring the documentary to the stage.
Luther said, “I am thrilled to be working with Raye to bring ‘Miss Navajo’ to the stage.” He added, “Raye’s thought provoking strength of Indigenous women resonates.” He adds, “I was raised by Navajo women. My mother eventually was crowned in 1966. Her culture, traditions and language remained, and this is the resiliency I see in Indigenous women every day.”
“I am so excited to be collaborating with Billy on the theater vision of Miss Navajo and go on this musical journey together. He’s such a visionary and we both speak a similar language with music,” said Zaragoza.
The documentary film follows Crystal Frazier, a 21-year-old woman from near Table Mesa, New Mexico, who initially doubts her ability to succeed in the Miss Navajo Nation pageant and is uncertain whether she belongs among the other contestants. The film follows the five-day competition at the Navajo Nation Fair, where seven contestants are evaluated in a series of events designed to test their knowledge of Navajo culture and language.
Luther’s (Dine, Hopi, Laguna Pueblo) own mother was crowned Miss Navajo 1966. The film reveals the inner beauty of the young women who compete in this celebration of womanhood. Not only must contestants exhibit poise and grace as those in typical pageants, but they must also answer tough questions in Navajo and demonstrate proficiency in skills essential to daily tribal life: frybread making, rug weaving and sheep butchering.
Zaragoza (Akimel O’otham descent) will pull from her career catalog and new work for Miss Navajo, with songs and lyrics about Indigenous women, cultural strength, immigration and the environment.
Miss Navajo is not your typical beauty pageant. Anyone can sign up to participate, provided they are female, single and older than 18, but they must be prepared to shear, butcher and cook a sheep over a fire outdoors. They must be well versed in Navajo legends. They must have an idea of what they would like to teach all 250,000 residents of the reservation. Above all, the recent high school graduates must be able to speak and understand the Navajo, or Dine, language.
At the time of the film’s release, about Luther said, “What inspired me about the beauty pageant was that here was a crossroads where the Western competition met Native influences, and the result was something not gaudy and glitzy like most beauty pageants, but something beautiful and profound, something that really reveals the true essence of beauty and in so doing, I think, provides a compelling insight into what it is that both makes my culture and heritage unique but also relevant to today’s world.”
