Chingwe Padraig Sullivan

actor, writer, storyteller

Aquy.

Chingwe Padraig Sullivan (he/they/she/nákum) is a New England based two-spirit Indigenous actor (Shinnecock and Montaukett Nations).

Táputni i skitôpák wôk cipayak ta manitok wuci yo ahki.

Chingwe in 2216: THE REMIX OF A GLOBAL EXPERIMENT

Production Photographer, Erin X. Smithers

upcoming productions and projects in development

Following the tour, she will be playing Aaron in the workshop of Haunted by Tara Moses (Seminole Nation of Oklahoma) with Company One Theatre.

March - April 2024

Their current writing project is a solo show titled Once on Long Island. The piece tackles alienation from home and self as a Shinnecock and Montaukett person.

In development

He is currently in preproduction on a tabletop actual-play podcast, by Natives, for Natives, based in the game Coyote and Crow, by Connor Alexander (Cherokee Nation).

In development

Nákum is currently touring Misdemeanor Dream, a multi-generational theatre project which brings together performers, designers and cultural practitioners from Native and First Nations communities across Turtle Island with Spiderwoman Theater.

January 2024 - March 2024

Chingwe in publicity photos for Othello

Photography by Aaron C. Packard

To live is to create, and to create is to live.

Ever since I was a child, all I’ve wanted to do is tell stories, imagine, and spend time in the whimsical worlds that existed in my daydreams. As an adult, much of my work as an artist has been a struggle to try and re-discover that unlimited childhood creativity that so quickly gets lost in the unflinching realities of life in a capitalist society. The stage allows me to immerse myself in people and worlds both different and similar to myself, and through me link them to an audience. Every role I take is an opportunity to better understand myself by understanding someone else.

I am first and foremost, a magician. Storytelling is the closest many of us get to genuine magic, and it os one of the oldest and most powerful forms of communication and community we have ever discovered. Stories put us in contact and in relationship with our past, and allow us to imagine futures that have been denied to us in the present. No thesis of any story I ever tell with be that mankind is beyond redemption.

Instead, in both written and performed work I will almost always pose the opposite question, for myself, for my People, and for the world at large: What if tomorrow is better?

As Adam, the young man who unsettles the dynamic between these two long term lovers, Sullivan shines, capturing the character's paradoxical blend of naivety and worldliness.”

-Jessica Tabak, BroadwayWorld

“Sullivan’s magnetic performance in this villainous role stood out. In addition to deftly mastering the complicated language with fluidity and clarity, Sullivan, exuded an irresistible charisma and likability. Indeed, he crafted the most relatable Iago I have had the pleasure to witness.”

-Robert Hubbard, HowlRound Theatre Commons

Wack is commanding and touching.
So it goes for Chingwe Padraig Sullivan,
who captures Turner’s style, wit, and
vulnerability. Wack and [Sullivan] are
rivetingly convincing as their love grows.”

-Jules Becker, Jewish Journal