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Native Voices at the Autry
Upcoming Productions/Events
Native Voices at the Autry's blog: http://www.nativevoices.blogspot.com/
NATIVE VOICES AT THE AUTRY FALL 2009 PRODUCTION
CARBON BLACK, by Terry Gomez, (Comanche)
Directed by Randy Reinholz (Choctaw)
Tickets:
$12 Autry Members/$20 General Admission;
Previews Only: $6 Autry Members/$10 General Admission
Synopsis:
This taut psychological drama focus on the relationship between an agoraphobic mother and her precocious son, Carbon ‘Inky’ Black. When young Inky claims to have witnessed a horrific murder, his mother’s refusal to acknowledge the tale, and her crippling dependence on sensationalized media coverage of violence in their city, serve to isolate them both even further. Dejected and often truant from school, Inky Black turns to young and well-meaning guidance counselor Lisa YellowTree, who must fight her own battles with Mr. Tucker, a gruff and seemingly uncaring Vice Principal.
Inspired by an outbreak of crime in the playwright’s own neighborhood, as well as the lingering culture of fear that has grown up in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Carbon Black illustrates what happens when life is distorted through the lens of local television news, and what the ramifications for individuals and society at large can be when the reaction to crime and violence, real or perceived, is denial and solitary confinement.
Show-times:
Paid Half Price Previews: November 4, 5 at 8pm; November 7 at 2pm
Opening Night November 7 at 8pm; show runs until November 22.
During the show’s run scheduled performances are as follows:
Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, 8pm
Saturdays and Sundays, 2pm
http://www.ticketweb.com/snl/Search.action?query=autry+national+center&x=0&y=0
Past Productions/Events
Tombs of the Vanishing Indian
September 2, 2009
First Look Series: Tombs of the Vanishing Indian
First Look Series (First in the series for the 2009–2010 Season)
Tombs of the Vanishing Indian, by Marie Clements (Métis)
Wednesday, September 2, 7:30–9:30 p.m.
Join us for the first of a three-part First Look Series as we present a fully staged reading of Tombs of the Vanishing Indian, by esteemed First Nations playwright Marie Clements (Métis). The play was inspired in part by the migration of American Indians to Los Angeles in the mid-twentieth century, and also by the Autry’s Southwest Museum of the American Indian collections. This event will be followed by a talk-back with the playwright, director, dramaturg, and cast.
Young Native Voices: Sharing Our Stories
August 1, 2009
Young Native Voices: Sharing Our Stories
Saturday, August 1, at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
 This presentation of student works as read by professional Native actors is the culmination of Sharing Our Stories, a collaboration between Native Voices’ Theater Education Project and Southern California Indian Center’s (SCIC) Inter-Tribal Entertainment division, which pairs professional Native performers with Native youths for summer workshops on acting and playwriting. Acting students learn performance techniques and writing students create their own one-act plays.
Presentation is free to the public; reservations are recommended. Please call our box office line at 323.667.2000, extension 354 to leave your name, number of seats you’d like held for you, and which presentation (11am or 2pm) you plan to attend.
2009 Festival of New Plays
June 20–27, 2009
2009 Festival of New Plays
Following a week-long retreat in San Diego and staged readings at the La Jolla Playhouse June 19-20, Native Voices at the Autry presents its annual Festival of New Plays in Griffith Park. To RSVP, call 323.667.2000, ext. 354. Admission to this event is free.
Friday, June 19, 8:00 p.m., Mandell Weiss Forum Studio, La Jolla Playhouse
Friday, June 26, 8:00 p.m., Wells Fargo Theater, Autry National Center
Carbon Black by Terry Gomez (Comanche)
Directed by Randy Reinholz (Choctaw)
Dramaturgy by Douglas Langworthy
Thirteen-year-old Carbon “Inky” Black overhears a murder while sleeping on his balcony.
Thrown into a frightening series of events, he and his agoraphobic mother search for answers in a
community paralyzed by violence. A welcome reception will take place at 7:00 p.m. prior to the reading.
Saturday, June 20, 1:00 p.m., Mandell Weiss Forum Studio, La Jolla Playhouse
Saturday, June 27, 1:00 p.m., Wells Fargo Theater, Autry National Center
The Frybread Queen by Carolyn Dunn (Muskogee Creek, Seminole, Cherokee)
Directed by Scott Horstein
Dramaturgy by Robert Caisley
Three generations of Indian women come together for the funeral of a beloved son. The collision
of personalities forces them to confront long-simmering tensions that threaten to tear them apart.
This quietly poetic drama has all the haunting qualities of a tragicomedy—Navajo
style! A reception follows the reading and discussion.
(between 3-4pm, join us for a reception featuring authentic frybread)
Saturday, June 20, 4:00 p.m., Mandell Weiss Forum Studio, La Jolla Playhouse
Saturday, June 27, 4:00 p.m., Wells Fargo Theater, Autry National Center
Fancy Dancer by Dawn Dumont (Cree, Métis)
Directed by Yvette Nolan (Algonquin)
Dramaturgy by Shirley Fishman
Saskatchewan, Canada. Aboriginal women are disappearing by the hundreds and it is TV
journalist Valerie Night’s job to bring the story to light. When a fancy dancer becomes the latest
victim, Valerie’s mission is increasingly compromised by the demands of her ratings-hungry
editor, the ambivalence of the non-Native community, and the surprising intervention of the
Trickster.
Salvage at Riverside Studios, London, England
May 12–17, 2009
Origins Festival Limited Production of Salvage
at Riverside Studios, London, England
click for more information
Salvage by Diane Glancy (Cherokee)
Directed by Sheila Tousey (Menominee, Stockbridge Munsee)
Cut Bank, Montana. Blackfeet country. Here, a hard-working family scratches out a life running a salvage yard. In this taut, suspenseful drama, a deadly accident throws them into a turbulent world of doubt, recrimination, and vengeance, pushing their lives into horrific new territory. Can traditional ways pull them back to safety? Or will they be torn apart forever?
Starring: Elena Finney (Mescalero Apache, Tarascan), Robert Owens-Greygrass (Lakota), and Noah Watts (Crow)
Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light
March 12–29, 2009
by Joy Harjo (Mvskoke)
Starring Joy Harjo (Mvskoke) and
featuring Larry Mitchell
Directed by Randy Reinholz (Choctaw)
Read the reviews here
Los Angeles Times
IndyBay.org
L.A. Weekly
From musician, poet, and now playwright Joy Harjo (Mvskoke) comes a deeply compelling personal journey of struggle, displacement, self-discovery, and ultimately healing. Invoking spoken word, storytelling, and song, Harjo reflects on life stories, the tales and traditions of her people, and takes a few turns blowing a mean jazz saxophone. An allegorical work of tremendous power, Wings demonstrates how theater and art can bring life full circle.
This play was workshopped and performed as a staged reading at the Public Theater’s 2007 Native Theater Festival in New York, then developed further by Native Voices at the Autry over the past fifteen months, including at the 2008 Native Voices playwrights' retreat, both in San Diego and at the Autry.
For an introduction to the work of Joy Harjo, click here to watch a 2007 PBS Newshour interview, featuring her performing on alto sax with Larry Mitchell, as well as her reciting some of her unique and beautiful poems.
Salvage
October 31–November 23, 2008
Salvage by Diane Glancy (Cherokee)
Directed by Sheila Tousey (Menominee, Stockbridge Munsee)
Cut Bank, Montana. Blackfeet country. Here, a hard-working family scratches out a life running a salvage yard. In this taut, suspenseful drama, a deadly accident throws them into a turbulent world of doubt, recrimination, and vengeance, pushing their lives into horrific new territory. Can traditional ways pull them back to safety? Or will they be torn apart forever?
Starring: Elena Finney (Mescalero Apache, Tarascan), Robert Owens-Greygrass (Lakota), and Noah Watts (Crow)
First Look Series 2008
Join us for FREE public play readings in the Wells Fargo Theater September through November. Selected playwrights will work with professional Los Angeles based directors and dramaturgs, and a stellar cast of Native American actors to present the best in new contemporary plays.
FIRST LOOK SERIES - WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 7:30 PM
The Namesake by Catherine Rexford (Inupiaq)
Catherine Rexford (Inupiaq) is a writer, an actor, and a film and music appreciator. She has worked extensively in Native education and language efforts as well as contemporary Indigenous theater and film projects. Her writing has been published in national and international literary journals and she is currently writing a series of children's novels based on Inupiaq culture. Her book Effigies is being published this year. She is also the Alaska Director of Native Movement. www.cathyrexford.com
An epic tale of the Arctic. Orion, a young Inupiaq man, crosses the imaginary line of taboo to discover that he's a direct descendent of a powerful shaman. Will he survive this spiritual battle or succumb to the seduction of a force greater than himself?
FIRST LOOK SERIES - WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 7:30 PM
Three Little Birds by Kenneth Williams (Cree)
Directed by Kalani Queypo (Blackfeet, Hawaiian)
Kenneth T. Williams (Cree) is an award-winning playwright and journalist. His plays Thunderstick, Suicide Notes and AWOL: Aboriginals Without Official Leave have been professionally produced across Canada. His newest play, Three Little Birds, will be produced later in 2008 by the Workshop West Playwrights Theatre in Edmonton, Alberta. He recently co-wrote an adaptation of Are We There Yet, a play for young audiences about sexual decision-making, for Aboriginal youth. He’s just finished another play for young audiences, Baby Daddy, about teen-aged Aboriginal fathers and is currently working on another TYA play, My Bestest Friend Ever. He also has two feature-length screenplays in development, Café Daughter and The Red Majesty. A stage version of Café Daughter has been commissioned by Gwaandak Theatre in Whitehorse, Yukon. He now resides in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
A charming teenage thief, a woman dying of cancer, and a newborn baby collide in this quirky story about families, taking chances, and letting go.
FIRST LOOK SERIES - WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 7:30 PM
The Frybread Queen by Carolyn Dunn (Muskogee Creek, Seminole, Cherokee)
Directed by Kalani Queypo (Blackfeet, Hawaiian)
Carolyn Dunn is of Cherokee, Muskogee Creek, and Seminole descent on her father's side, and of Cajun, French Creole, and Tunica-Biloxi on her mother's. Primarily a poet and a playwright, Carolyn began telling and writing stories at a very young age. Her work has been recognized by the Wordcraft Circle of Storytellers and Writers as Book of the Year for Poetry ("Outfoxing Coyote", 2002) as well as the Year's Best in 1999 for her short story "Salmon Creek Road Kill"; she was also recognized by the Native American Music Awards (for the Mankillers CD Comin to Getcha) and the Humboldt Area Foundation. As an academic, Carolyn's work has primarily focused on landscape in American Indian women's literature and urban American Indian identity formation in California. Currently, she is a James Irvine Foundation Fellow at the Center for American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California, where she is pursuing a doctorate. She has taught and developed university curriculum in American Indian literature, history, and theatre; has adapted and directed numerous radio theatre plays as well as staged productions of traditional stories, poems and songs with the American Indian Theatre Collective, Chapa De Indian Youth Theatre Company, the Native Radio Theater Project and The Los Angeles Theater Project; and directed a staged reading of Arigon Starr's one woman play, The Red Road for Native Voices at the Autry at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles in 2005.]
Three generations of Indian women, bound by marriage and family ties, come together for the funeral of a beloved son. In their grief, they confront long simmering tensions and family secrets that threaten to tear them apart.
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