Native Voices Presents 27th Festival of New Plays

Stories are medicine. You will hear me say that often. Not medicine like most people think, but medicine in an Indigenous sense: they heal, they guide, they influence, they teach, and they stir something in our spirit. They nourish the mind, body, and soul. The plays for this year’s 27th Festival of New Plays are indeed good medicine. They bring laughter, tears, and a sense of community and place. They center around family and what it means to be human, especially in this day and age. Most audiences new to Native American plays would describe them as “magical realism.” Although we do not prefer this term, it’s one of the closest ways to describe it in Westernized terms. Many of our stories have our cosmology intertwining and coexisting with us on this earthly plane. In fact, in some stories, multiple planes coexist in the same moment. This year’s selection represents the broad range of Native storytelling. Arbeka , by Tara Moses, is a family drama interwoven with Indigeneity that is heartwarming and insightful (and funny!). Tara captures an authentic family dynamic with all the love and chaos it entails. Her use of dialogue and story instantly welcome us into the Tiger family. K'kali , written by June Thiele, is immersed in the Aristotelian structure and our Indigenous ways of storytelling, simultaneously capturing the humor and complexity of relationships. June creatively weaves this concept throughout the piece in a way that carries the audience through the story without the need for oversimplifying Native themes or cultures. Whereas K'kali generously dips into this world, Jaisey Bates’s When We Breathe takes a deep dive into Indigenous storytelling. Jaisey has a mastery of language so poetic in nature and rich in cadence that one is immediately transported to the world she has created, “where every breath is a riot of beauty.” We hope you will savor each of these plays, and that they will nourish your mind and provide a balm for your soul. We are grateful to these playwrights for entrusting us with their words and their stories. Our hope is that Native Voices is a stepping-stone along their journeys. May their stories continue to be told across generations, land, and time.

In the spirit of Gadugi , DeLanna Studi Artistic Director Native Voices at the Autry

Gadugi : A Cherokee word meaning the coming together of a people to celebrate, support, and promote each other.