Theatre Review: Antíkoni

Antíkoni reimagines Sophocles’s Greek tragedy to adapt it to a Native American narrative. It’s a story of family conflict and the continuous struggle of the Natives to preserve their legacy. The story stresses the topics of law, gender, and tradition in the historical context of the marvelous world of the Nez Perce Nation (The Nimiipuu people).

Playwright Beth Piatote explores the Nez Perce’s history and challenges through a series of characters that reflect the urgency of the Tribe to continue the fight for their rights in a time of uncertainty. Set in the near future, Antíkoni tells the story of a museum that is endangered by the rise of a Nationalist Party. Directing the museum, Kreon (Frank Henry Katasse) is able to bring back some of the ancestors’ remains that were in the hands of private European collectors. However, Kreon’s niece Antíkoni (Erin Xáalnook Tripp) opposes the idea of keeping the remains in the museum. Defying Kreon, she wants to bury them respectfully, so she tries to get the help of her fiancé Haemon (Kholan Studi) and sister Ismene (Isabella Madrigal) to carry out the risky operation. In this play, The Chorus are the Aunties, who try to guide them in the right direction. And just like in Sophocles’ play, there’s also Tairasias (Nikcoma Lee Mahkewa), the wise blind prophet who attempts to reason with Kreon.

Piatote questions the role of the museums in caring for the dead. Several museums exhibit objects and remains of Natives, while dismissing their humanity at the same time, an arrogant symbol of their historical looting. In the play, Kreon does whatever he can to track down some of the remains of the Native ancestors held in Europe to bring them to the museum he directs. This becomes a contentious issue between him and Antíkoni. Both think they’re right and this leads to an intrafamilial conflict.

In this extraordinary display of eloquent defiance against assimilation, Piatote and Director Madeline Sayet deconstruct the Western vision of museums and literature that has attempted to silence and disregard the rich and vast culture of the Native nations over the years. No matter the forced relocations, ethnic cleansing, or Trail of Tears, the new generations of Native Americans continue to fight invisibility while demanding the return of what belongs to them (check out the message on Antíkoni’s jacket).

Antíkoni accentuates the mastery of the Nez Perce as storytellers. Throughout the play, there are several stories about the origins of the sun, the moon, and the stars. Storytelling is a central aspect of Indigenous epistemology. It is through oral tradition that parents pass down important lessons to their kids, based on knowledge and experience. Piatote and Sayet invite the audience to be mesmerized by this ancient rubric, setting up the seats in a circle, as though sitting around a fire.

The structure of this play brings a refreshing take on the traditional stories we are so accustomed to read and see. Thanks to organizations like Native Voices, playwrights like Piatote have the opportunity to revisit the past to rescue and disseminate the richness and sublimity of the millennial Nations, inviting us to compare, question, and challenge our own perceptions of the world. The talents of Piatote, Sayet, and the passionate thespians of Antíkoni allow us to dream.

Antíkoni

Southwest Campus
234 Museum Dr.
Los Angeles, CA 90065

November 8-24, 2024
Opening: November 8, 8 p.m.
Thursdays and Fridays: 8 p.m.
Saturdays and Sundays: 2 p.m.
Student Matinees: November 15 and 22, 11 a.m.

Ticketstheautry.org/events/native-voices

Written by Beth Piatote (Nez Perce). Directed by Madeline Sayet (Mohegan).

Cast: Frank Henry Katasse (Tlingit), Erin Xáalnook Tripp (Lingít), Isabella Madrigal (Cahuilla/Turtle Mountain Ojibwe), Kholan Studi (Cherokee), Nikcoma Lee Mahkewa (Hopi-Tewa, Mohave, Chemehuevi), Arigon Starr (Kickapoo), GiGi Buddie (Tongva and Mescalero Apache),  Dawn Lura (Diné), and Nathan Woodworth (Karuk).

Creative team: Courtney Mohler (dramaturg) and Jennifer Bobiwash (assistant director).

Theatre Review: Desert Stories for Lost Girls

Latino Theater Company partners with Native Voices at the Autry to present the world premiere of Desert Stories for Lost Girls, a play about identity, family, and colonialism over generations. Written by Lily Rushing and directed by Sylvia Cervantes Blush.

Carrie (Katie Anvil Rich) arrives to take care of her grandma Rosa (Carolyn Dunn), who suffers dementia. Uncle Edgar (Tom Allard), who was caring for Rosa, leaves and lets Carrie take over. Rosa tells Carrie things that don’t make much sense, at least not to Carrie. When Carrie sleeps, a series of characters show up in her dreams. There’s the conquistador (Glenn Stanton), Plácida (Samantha Bowling), Josefa (Brenda Banda), a younger Rosa (Rainbow Dickerson) and her husband Joe (Glenn Stanton).

The characters in Carrie’s dreams are allegories to her own Genízaro ancestors. Genízaro was a term used to refer to the Apache, Comanche, Kiowa, Navajo, Pawnee, and Ute Natives taken as prisoners by the Spaniards. These prisoners were enslaved in Spanish households, abused physically and sexually, taught Spanish, and forced to convert to Catholicism. 

After spending some more time with her grandma Rosa and some additional conversation with Uncle Edgar, Carrie realizes that Rosa is trying to tell her the story of her ancestors. It’s through her dreams that Carrie starts to put everything together and starts to learn the history of her family and her own identity. When Rosa opens up her suitcase, she’s opening up her memories. The dolls passed on to Carrie become a history lesson, a way so many Natives have taught their young ones of their values and heritage; the spiritual quest of truth. 

The conflicting relationship between Plácida and Nicholas Jacinto, the travel of Rosa and Joe, the references to Santo Tomás, and even Carrie’s lighter skin color is the manifestation of the ethnogenesis of the Genízaros and the failed transculturalization of the Natives that the Spaniards tried to achieve. The bones, the walking, the dolls, the oral history, and the spirits, became a testament of the resilience and the fight to keep their identity alive generation after generation. 

A pivotal character that shows the resilience of the Genízaros is Plácida. She had her son when she was 11 or 13 years old. When she was removed from the settlement, she had to walk 20 miles everyday to see her son.          

One highlight of this play is that it shows the Native’s perspective rather than a European narrative. This is the other side of the story. One that is rarely seen or heard in the media. These are the words of the people that lost most of their lands and whose lives were disturbed by the aggressive expansion of the European colonists. This is a story about loss, but it is also a story of resilience and hope, a reminder of the fascinating history of one part the Southwest and its culture that refuses to be silenced.

Playwright Lily Rushing and director Sylvia Cervantes Blush accomplish a magical theatrical experience. The script, in its prose and verse, expresses the history and beliefs of the Genízaros in a lyrical way, accentuated by the poetic visuals of scenic/props designer Christopher Scott Murillo and lighting/projection designers Derek Christiansen and Ruby O’Brien. A powerful play, made by powerful voices.

Desert Stories for Lost Girls

Written by Lily Rushing (Genízaro). Directed by Sylvia Cervantes Blush. Starring Tom Allard (Loyal Shawnee), Brenda BandaSamantha Bowling (Cherokee), Rainbow Dickerson (Rappahannock, Thai, European descent), Carolyn Dunn (Cherokee, Mvskoke Creek, French Creole, and Tunica/Choctaw Biloxi descent), Katie Anvil Rich (Cherokee, Chickasaw), and Glenn Stanton (Cherokee). Dramaturg: Courtney Elkin Mohler (Santa Barbara Chumash). Sound designer: Mia Glenn-Schuster. Costume designer: Lorna Bowen (Muscogee Creek, Seminole, Cherokee). Produced by Latino Theater Company in association with Native Voices at the Autry.

The Los Angeles Theatre Center
514 S. Spring Street
Los Angeles CA 90013

Limited 3-week run
Performances:September 30 – October 16
Thursdays at 8 p.m.: Oct. 6, Oct. 13
Fridays at 8 p.m.: Sept. 30 (Opening Night), Oct. 7, Oct. 14
Saturdays at 8 p.m.: Oct. 1, Oct. 8, Oct. 15
Sundays at 4 p.m.: Oct. 2, Oct. 9, Oct. 16

Tickets: latinotheaterco.org