Interviews

Arigon Starr Isn’t Here to Fit In—She’s Here to Change the Game

Written by Ronnie Mason on March 21, 2025

When you sit down with Arigon Starr, you quickly realize you’re not talking to someone who fits neatly into one category. Musician. Actor. Comic book creator. Playwright. She’s done it all—and on her own terms.

“I’m tribally enrolled in the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma,” Starr told RONN!E in an exclusive interview with Daybreak Star Radio, “but I also have Muscogee Creek, Cherokee, and Seneca roots.” Raised in a Navy family, she grew up all over—Florida, Maryland, New Mexico, the Philippines—always circling back to Oklahoma, where her extended family kept her grounded in her Native identity.

A One-Woman Creative Force

Starr thrives across mediums, but her storytelling always comes first. “Introverts make the best performers,” she said, laughing. “I’d rather stay home—but when I’m on stage, I come alive.” That’s especially clear in The Red Road, her one-woman show where she plays 10 different characters, from a Navajo fry cook to a British punk rocker obsessed with Native people.

That character—Danny Dacron—delivers a blistering punk song called Indian Eyes. “It sounds like something the New York Dolls would’ve done,” Starr joked. “It’s two minutes of buzz and chaos—and I love it.”

Breaking Barriers, Refusing Boxes

In industries where Native representation is rare, Starr didn’t wait for permission to be herself. “People would look at my comic and ask, ‘Did you draw that?’ Like it wasn’t possible for a Native woman.” She also faced pushback from both inside and outside her community—too Native for some, not Native enough for others.

“I never wanted to pander,” she said. “And I still don’t. I just want to tell the stories the way I know how.”

Her comic series Super Indian started as a radio play and evolved into a cult-favorite graphic novel. The story? A boy gains superpowers from tainted commodity cheese. It’s absurd, sharp, and deeply Native—which is exactly the point.

Always Creating, Always Listening

“I get a bug in my ear about stories,” Starr said. “I’ll hear something and think, ‘That’s a song. That’s a play. That’s a comic.’” For her, creativity isn’t a side project—it’s a way of life.

Her advice for young Indigenous artists? “Go with your parents. Sit with the old people. Just listen.” Those moments—quiet conversations, family gossip, bits of oral history—became the foundation for her storytelling. “They thought we weren’t listening. Oh, we were listening.”

Watch the Full Interview

Want to hear more from Arigon Starr in her own words? Watch the full conversation with RONN!E in the video below: