Playwright plans to discuss Native American rights at Headliners Newsmaker, Tuesday

Mary Kathryn Nagle, playwright of the new drama, "Sovereignty," plans to discuss Native American rights and the defense of the Violence Against Women Act at a National Press Club Headliners Newsmaker event on Tuesday, Jan. 23 at 10 a.m. in the Club’s Bloomberg Room.

Debuting this month at Washington’s Arena Stage, "Sovereignty" is based on the stories of Nagle’s Cherokee grandfathers from 1830s Cherokee Nation (now present-day Georgia) and Andrew Jackson’s presidency to the Cherokee Nation in present-day Oklahoma.

Nagle is a direct descendent of Major Ridge, who served as Speaker of the Cherokee Nation Council while Jackson was in the White House. She currently serves as the executive director of the Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program and is a partner at Pipestem Law, P.C., where she works to protect tribal sovereignty and the inherent right of Indian Nations to protect their women and children from domestic violence and sexual assault.

The news conference is open to credentialed media and National Press Club members, free of charge.