What Would Crazy Horse Do?

Turtle Theater Collective is proud to present the regional premiere of “What Would Crazy Horse Do?” written by Larissa FastHorse. FastHorse is an award winning playwright, director and choreographer based in Santa Monica. Larissa co-founded Indigenous Direction, a consulting firm that helps organizations who want to create accurate work by and for Indigenous peoples. Her produced plays include Urban Rez (Cornerstone Theatre Company) Landless (AlterTheater), Average Family (Children’s Theater Company of Minneapolis), Teaching Disco Squaredancing to Our Elders: a Class Presentation (Native Voices at the Autry), Vanishing Point (Eagle Project), Cherokee Family Reunion (Mountainside Theater) and The Thanksgiving Play (Artists Pre and Cap Stage). Larissa was awarded the PEN USA Literary Award for Drama, NEA Distinguished New Play Development Grant, Joe Dowling Annamaghkerrig Fellowship, AATE Distinguished Play Award, Inge Residency, Sundance/Ford Foundation Fellowship, Aurand Harris Fellowship, the UCLA Native American Program Woman of the Year and numerous Ford and NEA Grants. She is a current member of the Playwright’s Union, Director’s Lab West 2015, Theater Communications Group board of directors, Playwright’s Center Core Writers and is an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Sicangu Lakota Nation.

‘What Would Crazy Horse Do?” is a dark comedy inspired by an actual event. The play is sent on a Lakota reservation in South Dakota, although the tribe is fictional. The play, “is the tale of a single photo and the strange bedfellows it reveals. The Ku Klux Klan and a tribe of Indians joining together for a Pow Wow. What could these two groups find in common ground? This powerful play examines manipulations, genocide, racial purity, hate, love, fear and trauma. It is a play that will challenge your beliefs, stir your emotions and leave you wondering. We thank you for joining us and would like to warn some may find triggering moments and language in this production,” said Brian Joyce, Director.

“I had the honor of being a part of the Minneapolis staged reading of “What Would Crazy Horse Do?” in the spring of 2016 right here at Mixed Blood Theatre. This show more than any other, started so many conversations amongst the audiences who came to see it. I was awestruck by the play’s ability to be funny, severe, dark, hurtful, difficult and ignited a conversation about what we are seeing reflected in our society and how hate is often times allowed to survive. I knew the moment I took part in this reading, I wanted to see this show performed, if only to start a conversation and to remind people to be vigilante, because sometimes the people who speak softly can do more damage to our society than those who shout loudly,” said Ernest Briggs, Artistic Director of Turtle Theater Collective.

Turtle Theater Collective is committed to producing high-quality, contemporary work that explores Native experiences and subverts expectations about how and when Native artists can create theater. In addition to producing Indigenous plays, we center Native bodies and voices by situating them within the broader theatrical canon, providing opportunities for Native artists to grow and play.

Directed by Brian Joyce

Cast: Ernest Briggs, Jei Herald-Zamora, David Rand-McKay, Maretta Zilic

Production crew: Katie Johns (Stage Manager), Mitchell Frazier (Lighting Designer), David Lewis-Frazier (Sound Designer), Barb Portinga (Costume Consultant), Sarah Salisbury (Prop Master), Marisa Carr (Producer), Ernest Briggs (Artistic Director)

Performances at Mixed Blood Theatre:

Wednesday, July 10th @ 7:30 pm

Thursday, July 11th @ 7:30 pm

Friday, July 12th @ 7:30 pm

Saturday, July 13th @ 7:30 pm

Sunday, July 14th @ 2pm

Tickets can be purchased at Brown Paper Tickets in advance, please note walk-up tickets can be purchased by cash only.  Questions about tickets please contact: [email protected]