Plays featured in graphic: "Average Family" by Larissa Fasthorse from Plays for New Audiences (top), "Too Good To Be True" by Cliff Cardinal from VideoCabaret (middle), and "Taxonomy of the European Male" by Kent Monkman (bottom)
Written by: Liv Garcia and Leah Geisler, Co-Editors-in-Chief
“Do not accept that you can be disappeared in the literal sense, you as existence, but if and when they do disappear you, do not accept that you can be erased.”
-Lukas Avendaño, performance artist and writer from the Zapotec community of Mexico
This quote encompasses a need for stories that are at risk of disappearing, and in the case of this month, the stories of Indigenous, First Nation, and Native theatremakers. As each Indigenous person’s experience is different, each play we are recommending in this guide takes a different perspective. We have chosen a set of plays that call for Indigenous performers and are written by Indigenous playwrights. We hope that through the uplifting of Indigenous voices, the acknowledgement of ancient forms of theatre, that you are able to gain new perspectives and find ways to ensure that these stories are never erased.
1. The Woman Who Was A Red Deer Dressed for the Deer Dance by Diane Glancy
Synopsis: A girl, who fittingly goes by the title of Girl, of Cherokee descent has a conversation with her grandmother, also referred to as Grandmother, about spirituality and the convergence of the physical and spiritual worlds.
What makes this play unique: Girl is a representation of the challenges that young Indigenous people face post-colonization, while Grandmother is a representation of pre-colonization Native traditions. The two opposing sides show a great picture of what it means to be Indigenous through the lens of womanhood and how to keep tradition alive.
About the playwright: Diane Glancy is a poet, author, and playwright of Cherokee descent. The Woman Who Was a Red Deer Dressed for the Deer Dance is one of six plays in her book American Gypsy: Six Native American Plays published in 2002. Glancy’s poetic writing is reflected in her lyrical theatre form.
2. Body Indian by Hanay Geiogamah
Synopsis: Bobby Lee, a disabled addict, goes on a journey of self-discovery and rehabilitation with his friends being both his greatest asset and biggest downfall.
What makes this play unique: While some consider this play to be Geiogamah’s strongest, what truly sets it apart is how unapologetic it is about the importance of community and the different forms family takes on. It is both destructive and rehabilitative, uplifting and realist, filled with humor and seriousness.
About the playwright: Hanay Geiogamah is a playwright, producer, and artistic director of Cherokee and Delaware descent from Oklahoma. Body Indian is one of three plays from his collection New Native American Drama. In addition to being a prolific playwright, he is one of the few Native American producers that has worked in both film and television.
3. Indios by Linda Hogan
Synopsis: A long-form poem and solo performance piece in the voice of an Indigenous woman based loosely on the story of Medea.
What makes this play unique: As often as Indigenous voices are erased, the voices of Indigenous women are especially erased. Hogan combines a well-known fable with her own personal experiences to create a theatrical performance rooted in both imagination and truth.
About the playwright: Linda Hogan is a storyteller, poet, playwright, novelist, and environmentalist from Oklahoma, along with being the Chickasaw Nation’s Writer in Residence. Her work focuses on Indigenous knowledge on Environmentalism and Activism.
4. Hot ‘N’ Soft by Muriel Miguel
Synopsis: The story of a female lesbian coyote trickster that tackles taboos not often discussed in the Native lesbian community, such as hair, uncomfortable relationships, and being an older queer person.
What makes this play unique: Miguel's inspiration for this play is the traditional trickster tales she grew up with. The role of the trickster is typically male and heteronormative, and this new iteration creates space for queer Indigenous people in a humorous and honest way.
About the playwright: Muriel Miguel is the founding member and artistic director of Spiderwoman Theater, the longest-running theatre for Native women in the United States. She has co-written and directed all of Spiderwoman’s shows, this play included. She is a member of the Kuna and Rappahannock nations.
5. The Mascot Opera: A Minuet by LeAnne Howe
Synopsis: This one-act play is a humorous musical satire on the use of Indigenous people as mascots for sports teams.
What makes this play unique: Howe combines the best of comedy, musical, and Indigenous tradition to create something entirely new and relevant to the oppressive symbol of many sports mascots.
About the playwright: LeAnne Howe is a playwright, poet, and filmmaker based in the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. In addition to this commissioned piece for Minneapolis’ Mixed Blood Theater, Howe has written numerous other works that strive to engage with Native American life.
6. Hokti by Annette Arkeketa
Synopsis: This play tells the story of Hokti, a young Native American woman who navigates her place in society being in an alcoholic coma with the perspectives of her parents, grandparents, and little sister Lori. She must use her spiritual connections to face her newfound life.
What makes this play unique: This is a play written by and for Indigenous women. Arkeketa makes it clear from the beginning that she wants to tell a real, raw story connected back to her personal experience.
About the playwright: Annette Arkekta is a writer, poet, and playwright from the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Oklahoma. She is best known for her self-led writing workshops.
7. Average Family by Larissa Fasthorse
Synopsis: Two families compete on a reality TV show where they must live on a 1840s Minnesota prairie. Along with competing against one another, one family reconnects with their Dakota culture and finds how to live satisfying lives.
What makes this play unique: Fasthorse presents a picture of two families trying to come together once more while simultaneously discovering their own identity. It is a hilarious, heartfelt interpretation of family that addresses common Native American stereotypes.
About the playwright: Even if you are unfamiliar with most Indigenous playwrights, there is a good chance you have heard of Larissa Fasthorse. She is most well-known for her play The Thanksgiving Play, although she has produced six other plays thus far. Since her rising fame, she has moved into film and television as her next venture.
8. Too Good To Be True by Cliff Cardinal
Synopsis: This dark comedy follows Maria and her children Lisa, a pregnant teenager, and Jude, an enthusiastic tween as they are on the run after the murder of Lisa’s abuser.
What makes this play unique: There are fantastical elements that make this play larger than life and close to home, but what really shines through is Maria’s commitment to giving her children a good life. Compared to Average Family, this play takes an entirely different approach to what family can look like.
About the playwright: Cliff Cardinal is best known for his solo performance work, and Too Good To Be True is his first multi-person play. He developed his sense of style as an artist on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of Canada and has since gone on to develop critically-acclaimed theatrical performances.
9. Bears by Matthew Mackenzie
Synopsis: Part eco-activist plea and part dark comedy, workplace accident suspect Floyd flees town as he experiences physical changes that cannot be explained.
What makes this play unique: Mackenzie seamlessly blends genres to create something unlike any other play. It pays homage to Indigenous spirituality through an environmentalist lens while being continuously entertaining and packed with thrill.
About the playwright: Matthew Mackenzie is a playwright and director of Cree, Metis, and Ojibway heritage that focuses his work on strong socio-political themes. Bears is a part of his theatre company Pyretic Productions.
10. Taxonomy of the European Male by Kent Monkman
Synopsis: Miss Chief, Monkman’s drag persona, recruits to white European males to study in their natural habitat who provide her with a series of challenges.
What makes this play unique: Queer Indigenous performance is put at the forefront of this satirical piece. Monkman is able to communicate the atrocities of white colonization by flipping the narrative and cultivating laughter.
About the playwright: Kent Monkman is an interdisciplinary Cree artist who creates provocative interventions into Western European and American history, often through his gender-fluid drag persona Miss Chief Eagle Testickle.
We hope that learning about these plays and hopefully exploring them further allows you to celebrate Indigenous voices in theatre and performance. These plays cultivate hope, laughter, pain, celebration, mourning, tradition, and innovation. They express the wide array of Indigenous identities that continue to play a major role in theatre.
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