Native Voices at the Autry continues its vital role as the country’s only equity theatre company dedicated exclusively to developing the work of Native American playwrights with a free staged reading of Hunka by award-winning playwright Larissa FastHorse (Sicangu Lakota Nation*) 2:30 p.m. Sunday, February 12, 2012 at the Wells Fargo Theater at The Autry National Center in Griffith Park.
The reading is directed by Laurie Woolery, associate artistic director of the noted Cornerstone Theater Company. Gritty, funny and poignant, Hunka explores notions of family, teen pregnancy, adoption and responsibility, questioning if it's possible to be redeemed from mistakes – and whether the characters really want to be. The reading is followed by an audience "Talk-Back" with FastHorse, Woolery and actors Elizabeth Frances (Cherokee*), Susan Wilder and Maxton Scott (Mohawk*).
The reading is part of Native Voices' signature FIRST LOOK SERIES: Plays in Progress, which brings playwrights together with professional directors, dramaturgs, and actors for a workshop and public presentation at the Autry, providing an important next step in the play’s development.
Fasthorse (Sicangu Lakota Nation*) was awarded the 2010 National Endowment for the Arts Distinguished New Play Development Grant for Fancy Dancer with Children’s Theatre Company. Current commissions include Kennedy Center Theatre for Young Audiences, Cornerstone Theatre and Cherokee Historical Association Mountainside Theatre. She is a member of the Center Theatre Group’s Writers Workshop and part of the inaugural Café Bohemia series at Arizona Theatre Company.
Woolery is the associate artistic director of Cornerstone Theater Company. As a director and playwright, she has collaborated on many new works including A Man Comes to Fowler, Jason in Eureka, For All Time, A Holtville Night’s Dream, and3/7/11: A LincolnHeightsTale. Recently, Woolery directed The Language Archive by Julia Cho at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. As a director, playwright, educator and actor, Woolery has worked at South Coast Repertory, Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Inge Center for the Arts, Denver Center, Los Angeles Theatre Center, Ricardo Montalban Theatre, Deaf-West Theatre, fofo Theatre, Highways Performance Space, and Sundance Playwrights Lab, as well as the Sundance Children’s Theatre.
Native Voices at the Autry is located at The Autry National Center, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Los Angeles, CA, 90027-1462. For reservations or additional information, call 323 667-2000, ext. 299 or visit www.NativeVoicesattheAutry.org.
*refers to the artists’ tribal affiliation
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