Native Voices Hosts a Festival of Three New Play Readings

Monica Whitepigeon in Entertainment Discussion »

LOS ANGELES – Native Voices is continuing its tradition of working with Native playwrights, actors, and directors to produce new contemporary plays for all audiences. After a weeklong workshop, three plays will be opened to public readings. This will be the 14th Annual Playwrights Retreat and Festival of New Plays presented at the Autry National Center Wells Fargo Theater. The festival will run from Friday, June 1st at 7:30 pm and Saturday, June 2nd 2:00 pm and 7:30 pm.

Native Voices at the Autry National Center
Wells Fargo Theater

In order to help further the development of each play, the audience will be encouraged to give feedback. Each play will either be in various stages of development some of which will include readings by actors or only the playwrights. The plays will go onto either be full productions with Native Voices or other venues.

The three plays to be presented are "The Hummingbirds," "The Bird House," and "Distant Thunder: A Native American Musical."

The "Hummingbirds," by Elizabeth Frances, Cherokee, Shyla Marlin, Choctaw, and Kimberly Norris Guerrero, Colville, Salish-Kootenai, & Cherokee, is very interactive and deals with multimedia elements that will incorporate the audience. The story follows three Native sisters who work various jobs during the day and are musicians at night.

"The Bird House,"by Diane Glancy, Cherokee, is a dramatic story of an evangelical preacher and his family as they confront an uncertain future from corporate greed and big oil. This will be the second version of The Bird House presented at the festival.

"Distant Thunder: A Native American Musical," by the mother-son team of Tony Award nominee Lynne Taylor-Corbett and Shaun Taylor-Corbett, Blackfeet, is about an attorney whose good intentions cause a crisis throughout his tribe and his childhood sweetheart. The musical includes sixteen production numbers with more than twenty characters, the largest cast of any Native Voices play.

The Autry is located at:
4700 Western Heritage Way
Los Angeles, California 90027

The readings are free to the public, but reservations are suggested. To reserve tickets, call 323.667.2000, extension 354.

posted May 19, 2012 6:57 am edt