Native Voices Presents 11th Short Play Festival: Home

America’s Leading Native American Theatre Company Presents

11 TH ANNUAL SHORT PLAY FESTIVAL

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13 SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14

For so many during these past 18 months, Home —whether literal or metaphorical—has become the centerpiece of our lives. So Native Voices asked, What Is Home? We were delighted by the many answers from Native playwrights across the world: from Arizona to Belgium to Canada to Hawaii and to the home of Native Voices in Los Angeles. In this year’s 11th Annual Short Play Festival , Home is family: broken, beautiful, and flawed. Home is a past that may haunt us and a future that offers hope. It’s creating new memories and holding tight to old ones. Home is a living entity that is both in constant change and will always be a part of us. Join us as we celebrate the stories, dreams, and histories of eight Native playwrights as they guide us Home .

FEATURING

9-1-1 Comanchería by Justin Tahmahkera (Comanche)

During a West Texas town’s Centennial Celebration of the founding, a local 911 operator receives a phone call that casts a shadow on the town’s long remembered history.

Come Home by Tammy Haili‘ōpua Baker (Kanaka Maoli)

What happens when trust is broken in our home? Can it ever be repaired? Kawao and his father, Alden, grapple with these questions in a stunning portrait of reconciliation.

From There to Here by Ryffin Phoenix (Navajo, Omaha)

Tethered by the idea of home, From There to Here follows two siblings as they come to terms with their vastly different experiences of the same place. Will they forge a new understanding of each other and their pasts?

The Knoll by Jeff D’Hondt (Lenape, Six Nations of the Grand River)

After his father’s passing, a son returns to his childhood home where he is overwhelmed by the land itself. Is it grief that is bubbling up? Or is it love in all its many shades?

‘Ohana Unit by Lee Cataluna (Native Hawaiian) When a father chops down his beloved mango tree to build an ‘ohana unit, his three daughters vie for his affection to be the one who gets to live in it. Olivia by Claude Jackson, Jr. (Gila River Indian Community) When corruption comes knocking at her door, Olivia must face the past and decide someone else’s fate.

Sourwood by Alan Kilpatrick (Cherokee)

Ellen is losing the mother she knew to Alzheimer’s. In an effort to unlock the histories (and memories) they once shared, Ellen disregards western medicine and focuses on tradition.

Where Horses Wear Prom Dresses by Diane Glancy (Cherokee)

Diane Glancy takes a poignant, poetic look at Home and its constant evolutions as she explores the bonds of a love that has weathered many storms, this one possibly being the last.

JUDGES Anne Begay (Navajo) Tonantzín Carmelo (Tongva, Kumeyaay) Judge Judith Chirlin Shawn Imitates Dog (Oglala Sioux) Shelby T. Jiggetts-Tivony

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHTS

Tammy Haili‘ōpua Baker (Kanaka Maoli) is a director, playwright, and associate professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Her work centers on the development of an Indigenous Hawaiian theatre aesthetic and form, language revitalization, and the empowerment of cultural identity through stage performance. Baker is the artistic director of Ka Hālau Hanakeaka, a Hawaiian-medium theatre troupe based on O‘ahu. Originally from Kapa‘a, Kaua‘i, she now resides in Kahalu‘u, Ko‘olaupoko, O‘ahu with her ‘ohana. Lee Cataluna (Native Hawaiian) is a playwright whose recent work includes commissions from San Francisco Playhouse (Sons of Maui) , Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Visual Sovereignty Project) , Arena Stage (Indigenous Earth Voice) , and La Jolla Playhouse (What the Stars See) . Her short play Funeral Attire received the Von Marie Atchley Award from Native Voices in 2020, and her play Flowers of Hawaii was workshopped at Native Voices in 2019. Her TYA play Heart Strings received a Reimagine Grant and was workshopped at Atlantic Theater this fall. Jeff D’Hondt (Lenape, Six Nations of the Grand River) is a K. M. Hunter Award nominee. Of Belgian Canadian and Lenape ancestry, his stage plays include Mesingw (Vancouver Fringe, Aki Studio) and Everything I Couldn’t Tell You (Why Not Theatre/ RISER Project). He was the associate producer of MSM [men seeking men] (lemonTree Creations, World Pride). A graduate of York University with a Master of Social Work degree, D’Hondt’s research on using devised theatre to assist houseless Indigenous youth was awarded the Gerry Erickson Essay Prize for Best Practice Research Paper. Diane Glancy (Cherokee) is member #1255 of the First Families of the Cherokee Nation, an organization that recognizes families that formed the Cherokee Nation. Native Voices has produced four of her plays: Jump Kiss , Stone Heart , Salvage , and The Bird House . She published Pushing the Bear: A Novel of the Trail of Tears . Her most recent books are A Line of Driftwood: The Ada Blackjack Story and Home Is the Road: Wandering the Land, Shaping the Spirit. Glancy is professor emerita at Macalester College. www.dianeglancy.com

Claude Jackson, Jr. (Akimel O’otham/Pee-Posh) is a member of the Gila River Indian Community. He is married to Lea, and they have three kids: Zaryk, Kaleb, and Naiya. Six of his plays were featured in previous Native Voices Short Play Festivals, including Cashed Out , which won the 2019 festival. Jackson co-wrote, co- produced, and co-directed a feature film, In Circles , which can be seen on Amazon Prime and other streaming outlets.

Alan Kilpatrick (Cherokee) currently lives in Belgium with his wife and their three dogs. He is the author of some 30 plays. His recent works include the award-winning short, Peetie’s Friend , filmed in 2019 by the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and his monologue, Amour-Propre , performed by the Troubadour Theatre. A live stage performance of his one-act, Hygiene , was performed this summer at the Lion and Unicorn Pub in London, as was his ten-minute comedy, Article 13, or How Manhattan Was Sold at the Adobe Theater, Albuquerque, New Mexico. His radio play, Tatiana, was produced by the Eclectic Full Contact Theatre, and his full-length audio play, Shade , recorded by the Springline Radio Players (Oxfordshire, U.K.), will be broadcast this fall.

Ryffin Phoenix (Navajo, Omaha) is a writer and performer. Born and raised on the beautiful lands of the Navajo Reservation, her passion for storytelling led her to train in the craft of acting. She has performed in several productions for Native Voices at the Autry, and her most recent performance was as Jacqueline in Rhianna Yazzie’s play Nancy for the Playwrights’ Center. Phoenix spends her free time writing short stories and screenplays.

Dustin Tahmahkera (Comanche) is the Wick Cary Chair in Native American cultural studies at the University of Oklahoma. As a critical-creative writer and scholar of sound, film, and theatre in Indian Country, he authored the books Tribal Television and Cinematic Comanches , a TED-Ed film about his relative Quanah Parker, and has written articles on Indigenous artists and media. Tahmahkera is currently writing a radio theatre series on borderlands relations between Comanches and settlers in the Comanchería.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Tom Allard (Loyal Shawnee) is a longtime member of the Native Voices Artists Ensemble. He taught stagecraft and video filmmaking for 20 years before becoming the resident storyteller for Pasadena Polytechnic School. September marked the beginning of his 50th year of singing for his supper, in one form or another. Deeply grateful for this adventure. What a band of players!

Samantha Bowling (Cherokee) is a standup, sketch, improv, and character comedian from Cincinnati, Ohio. She lives, works, plays with her dog, paints, writes music, drives a stick shift, and performs in Los Angeles. Her solo show This Was Never Supposed to Be a One-Woman Show: A One-Woman Show will premiere in Los Angeles in December. Theatre credits include Spirit of the Valley (Perseverance Theatre), The Lowell Offering (Merrimack Repertory Theatre), Under a Big Sky (Native Voices at the Autry), and Informed Consent (Lantern Theater). TV/Film credits include Tomb Invaders (SyFy), Back to Awesome (Amazon), and Okee Dunn-Anderson (Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians) is a Two-Spirit person from San Pedro, California. They have played roles such as Willy Wonka in Charley and the Chocolate Factory , the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland , and Sandra King in Round Dance . They will be studying at Cal State L.A. for theatre, as well as to learn American Sign Language.

Blood Brother (Lifetime). @2ndGuessCorrect

Jason Grasl (Blackfeet) is an actor, playwright, director, and ensemble member at Native Voices at the Autry. Theatre credits include Fairly Traceable (Native Voices); Laughter on the 23rd Floor (Garry Marshall Theatre); Cherokee (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company); The Blame of Love and Sliver of a Full Moon (touring); Urban Rez (assistant director); and Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding . Film/ TV credits include Rutherford Falls, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, 9-1-1 , White Collar , Hot in Cleveland , Cassidy Red , and The Seminarian . Playwright credits include Lying with Badgers , Emergency Management , and The Blame of Love . Grasl’s newest play, a sci-fi drama called The Normal Force , was written under San Diego Rep’s “Hear U.S. Now” commission with an online staged reading premiere this weekend.

Carolina Hoyos (Quechua-Kichwa) is an actor-playwright- director, songwriter, voice artist, and 2021 Peace Studio Creative Peacebuilder. Highlights in 2021 include Macbeth, Comedy of Errors , and Romeo & Juliet with Black Girls Luv the Bard; The Bowels at Women’s Theatre Festival; and solo pieces for It’s Personal and Celebration Theatre. Film/TV credits include MTV Hits , Too Old to Die Young , and Austin Film Festival– winner Blackwater . Hoyos is a 2020 West Hollywood Directing Artist, a 2019 LA Skins TV Writer Lab Fellow, and is on the L.A. County Musicians Roster until 2024. Kainoa Kelly (Native Hawaiian) has trained at the Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis Children’s Theatre, and the Gotham Comedy Club in New York City. Recent stage roles include Jeff in Kimberly Akimbo , Sir Harry in Once Upon a Mattress , Baptist Minister/ Stephen Belber in The Laramie Project , and Josiah in an NYU- Steinhardt reading of the play Heart Strings . He is a ninth-grader at Iolani School in Honolulu, where he is a member of the International Thespian Society and high school speech team. Robert I. Mesa (Navajo/Soboba) is an artist focusing on acting, filmmaking, and photography. Currently, he appears on Grey’s Anatomy as Dr. James Chee. Other television credits include Tecumseh in The Men Who Built America: The Frontiersman , produced by Leonardo DiCaprio for the History Channel. Mesa has also performed with the Yale Repertory, Marin Theatre Company, and Portland Center Stage. He is a recipient of the 2020 Senator John Pinto Memorial Fund, which will produce his upcoming film Chindi . In 2018, his movie Devon’s Forest premiered at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival and California’s American Indian

and Indigenous Film Festival. As a visual artist and photographer, Mesa has shown in markets at the Autry, the Heard, the Santa Fe Indian Market, and galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Shanghai, China, and Bristol, United Kingdom.

Ryffin Phoenix (Navajo, Omaha) see bio above

Kholan Studi (Cherokee) was born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Ever since he was a child, he has loved entertaining folks and making them laugh and feel. In 2012, Studi moved to Los Angeles to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where he completed his studies in 2015. Since then, he has worked in many productions with Native Voices at the Autry, including They Don’t Talk Back by Frank Henry Kaash Katasse and Bingo Hall by Dillon Chitto. Studi was also honored to play Elias Boudinot in a production of Sovereignty by Mary Katherine Nagle at Marin Theatre Company in 2019. During the pandemic, he took part in Perseverance Theatre’s production of Spirit of the Valley by Frank Henry Kaash Katasse.

Jehnean Washington (Yuchi, Seminole, Shoshone) is a multitalented and multicultural artist. A graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City, she has

worked for more than 30 years not only as a singer/song writer and musician but also in the entertainment industry in film, television, radio, and voiceovers. Washington is a recognized and archived singer, songwriter, musician, actor, and storyteller with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., and an ensemble member of Native Voices at the Autry. She is also the owner of the Los Angeles–based film company Lighthorsewoman Productions and co-wrote the award-winning screenplay for the movie Rave .

Brían Pagaq Wescott (Athabascan/Yup’ik) grew up without running water in Alaska and studied at Harvard and Yale. He now trains on camera with Laura Gardner at the Authenticity Workshop. Recent credits include ten productions of The Winter Bear Project (Perseverance Theatre in Alaska), three runs of They Don’t Talk Back (Perseverance, NVA, La Jolla Playhouse), and Our Town (Perseverance) starring Irene Bedard. He serves on the Native committees at both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, but no matter what, he’ll always be the boy from the long dirt road in Alaska.

All actors are appearing through a special agreement between Native Voices and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

ABOUT THE DRAMATURGS

Carolyn M. Dunn, PhD (Cherokee, Mvskoke Creek, French Creole, and Tunica/Choctaw Biloxi descent) is a poet, playwright, director, and actor. She is assistant professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Cal State L.A. and the artistic director of Oklahoma Indigenous Theatre Company.

Laura Shamas (Chickasaw) is thrilled to part of the 2021 Short Play Festival as a dramaturg. Her short play Four Women in Red was part of the 2020 Festival, and her short play Seeds won the Von Marie Atchley award at the 2017 Festival. Her Ph.D. is in mythological studies, and she has written 40 plays. A couple of her published nonfiction books are “We Three”: The Mythology of Shakespeare’s Weird Sisters and Pop Mythology: Collected Essays .

Harry Wong III is a graduate from UH Mānoa with an MFA in theatre direction. He has been the artistic director of Kumu Kahua Theatre (KKT) since 1997, and in 1990 he stage managed KKT’s international tour to Edinburgh, Washington, D.C., and the Los Angeles International Festival of the Arts. He was an Allen Lee Hughes Fellow at Washington D.C.’s Arena Stage. In addition to directing at KKT, Wong has directed for the Honolulu Theatre for Youth, the Hawai‘i Shakespeare Festival, and the Actors Group.

ABOUT THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

DeLanna Studi (Cherokee) has more than 25 years of experience as a performer, storyteller, educator, facilitator, advocate, and activist. Her theatre credits include the first national Broadway tour of the Tony Award– and Pulitzer Prize–winning play August: Osage County ; off-Broadway’s Gloria: A Life (Daryl Roth Theatre); Informed Consent (the Duke on 42nd Street); and regional theatres (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Portland Center Stage, Cornerstone, and Indiana Repertory Theatre). Studi originated roles in more than 18 world premieres, including 14 Native productions. A pivotal moment in her career was

writing and performing And So We Walked: An Artist’s Journey Along the Trail of Tears , based on retracing her family’s footsteps along the Trail of Tears with her father. And So We Walked has been produced throughout the country and was the first American play chosen for the Journées Théâtrales de Carthage in Tunisia, Africa. In film and television, Studi can be seen in the Peabody Award–winning Edge of America ; Hallmark’s Dreamkeeper ; Goliath ; Shameless ; and General Hospital . She is a recipient of the Butcher Scholar Award, a MAP Fund Grant, and a Cherokee Preservation Grant. Since 2007 she has served as chair of the SAG-AFTRA National Native Americans Committee.

ABOUT THE MANAGING PRODUCER

Elisa Blandford has been producing for Native Voices at the Autry since 2014, from world premieres and touring productions to Short Play Festivals, Playwrights Retreats, and Festivals of New Plays. She co-founded Vanguard Repertory Company and the Windmill Arts Center, a black box theatre and dance studio dedicated to fostering performance and visual arts.

ABOUT THE LITERARY ASSOCIATE

Katie Rich (Chickasaw, Cherokee) is an L.A.–based actor, director, and writer who trained at Harvard and the Moscow Art Theatre School. In addition to Native Voices, some of her theatre credits include the Guthrie, American Repertory Theater, American Conservatory Theater, and La Jolla Playhouse. She is an improvisor and writer who can be seen at UCB, the Ruby LA, and Second City: Hollywood. Rich has also performed internationally at MXAT and Theatre Royal Bath. She holds an MFA from Harvard/ A.R.T. Institute and a BA from San Diego State. www.katieanvilrich.com

ABOUT NATIVE VOICES AT THE AUTRY

Native Voices at the Autry places Native narratives at the center of the American story in order to facilitate a more inclusive dialogue on what it means to be American. Founded in 1994 by Randy Reinholz (Choctaw) and Jean Bruce Scott, Native Voices is dedicated to the development and production of new works for the stage written by American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and First Nations playwrights. The organization remains committed to emerging and established Native playwrights and theatre artists, to telling Native stories by and about Native people, and to providing the public access to these plays and playwrights—all with the goals of fostering greater understanding and respect of showcasing artistic voices that might otherwise not be heard.

ABOUT THE AUTRY MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN WEST

The Autry is a museum dedicated to exploring and sharing the stories, experiences, and perceptions of the diverse peoples of the American West, connecting the past to the present to inspire our shared future. The museum presents a wide range of exhibitions and public programs—including lectures, film, theatre, festivals, family events, and music—and performs scholarship, research, and educational outreach. The Autry’s collection of more than 500,000 pieces of art and artifacts includes the Southwest Museum of the American Indian Collection, one of the largest and most significant collections of Native American materials in the United States.

SAVE THE DATE!

MARCH 2022 | 12th Annual Short Play Festival Trickster: Coyotes, Rabbits, and Ravens, Oh My!

Many Native stories involve a Trickster—a cunning, crafty, clever, mischief-making being who often teaches humankind how to be while embodying what not to be. A Trickster is the ultimate disrupter. They can be charming, witty, funny, harsh, or critical, but they have a truth to share with us if we only listen. And if we don’t listen? Well, they will find a way to teach us, whether we like it or not. JUNE 2022 | 28th Festival of New Plays Selected playwrights will develop their plays over ten days in residence at the Autry. Audience feedback is key in the culmination event, a festival of staged readings with an illustrious cast and creative team who share these theatrical works in progress. OCTOBER 2022 | Desert Stories for Lost Girls by Lily Rushing (Genízaro) When Carrie moves in with her grandmother, Rosa, she is thrown into a world of memory and mystery that unearths her family’s story and identity—shining a light on a dark and bloody period in the history of the American Southwest.

IN GRATITUDE Your support is vital to the success of Native Voices at the Autry, allowing us to create, develop, and produce Native theatre for a national audience. We would like to acknowledge our generous supporters: NATIVE VOICES SUPPORT COMMITTEE: HONORABLE JUDITH CHIRLIN, COMMITTEE CHAIR • TONANTZÍN CARMELO • DUANE CHAMPAGNE AND CAROLE GOLDBERG • ELENA FINNEY ENDLICH • KIMBERLY GUERRERO • SHAWN IMITATES DOG • JOHN QUICK AND MARTI WIEDMAN • DARYL ROTH • GLORIA STEINEM • KATE AND JIM WOLF-PIZOR AND OUR ADDITIONAL SPONSORS:

LAURA AND DEAN BERESFORD • JOYCE AND DAVID EVANS • DAVID HITZ • LEE HORWIN • HELENE JACOBS • JUDY JACOBS • LYNN JEFFRIES • EMILY MANN • NBCUNIVERSAL • PETER GLENVILLE FOUNDATION • JEAN BRUCE SCOTT AND RANDY REINHOLZ • SEELEY W. MUDD FOUNDATION

To become an individual or corporate donor, please contact development@ theautry.org or 323.495.4351 . If you’d like to learn more about the Native Voices Support Committee, please contact Jenny Davidson-Goldbronn at jdavidson- goldbronn@theautry.org .

AUTRY MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN WEST 4700 Western Heritage Way Los Angeles, CA 90027 TheAutry.org/NativeVoices | @NativeVoices