
Vera Starbuck
9:48 - 10:20
"There will also be— spoiler— a bit of a storyteller who will be explaining pretty much the whole story before you even begin. That was also a tradition for Tlingit performing arts, that you would have oratory or storytelling before you even performed it."
“There will also be— spoiler— a bit of a storyteller who will be explaining pretty much the whole story before you even begin. That was also a tradition for Tlingit performing arts, that you would have oratory or storytelling before you even performed it.”
- Speaker
- Vera Starbuck
- Timestamp
- 9:48 – 10:20
- Community
- Alaska News
- Location
- Juneau
- Captured at
- August 28, 2026
From the transcript
There will also be— spoiler— a bit of a storyteller who will be explaining pretty much the whole story before you even begin. That was also a tradition for Tlingit performing arts, that you would have oratory or storytelling before you even performed it. So we're trying to take all of these things that Tlingit's already had as best practices for performing arts and putting it into this modern sense that isn't so modern. It's a couple millennia old. So no matter what, you're going to have a good time.
Related Coverage
Tlingit opera adds program guide and pre-show storyteller for audiences who do not speak the language
At a Sealaska Heritage Institute panel Thursday in Juneau, the creative team behind "Ḵutulagaaw: The Tlingit-Russian Battles" described how audiences who do not speak Tlingit can follow the opera, which premieres Sept. 11 at Thunder Mountain Middle School.

Sealaska Heritage president says Tlingit-Russian War story belongs to all clans, not Kiks.ádi alone
At a Sealaska Heritage Institute panel Thursday in Juneau, a Kiks.ádi audience member asked how the institute handles clan-owned stories in the first Tlingit opera. SHI President Rosita Worl said the war story belongs to all clans and the Haidas because all united to fight.
