A conversation between Larissa FastHorse and Michael John Garcés on their ten-year exploration of contemporary indigeneity through theater. FastHorse is a 2020 MacArthur Fellow, award-winning playwright and choreographer, co-founder of Indigenous Direction, the nation’s leading consulting company for Indigenous arts and audiences, and a member of the Sicangu Lakota Nation. FastHorse is also a Short-Term Belknap Fellow in the Humanities Council and Lewis Center this semester. Her satirical comedy, The Thanksgiving Play, was recently included as one of the top ten most-produced plays in America, the first Native American playwright represented on that list. Garcés, a 2020 Doris Duke Artist and Princess Grace Statue Award winner, is a director and playwright and, until 2023, artistic director of Cornerstone Theater Company, a community-engaged ensemble in Los Angeles. Fasthorse and Garcés are Professors of Practice at Arizona State University. They recently completed a ten-year exploration of contemporary indigeneity with Cornerstone Theatre Company, resulting in three plays focused on topics and themes important to members of the local community and created in collaboration with them. These plays are Urban Rez in Los Angeles, performed in 2016; Native Nation in Salt River and Phoenix, Arizona, performed in 2019; and Wicoun, which toured across South and North Dakota and performed in 2023.
Cosponsored by Land, Language, and Art (LLA), a Global Initiative from the Humanities Council.
Tickets & Details
The conversation is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations required.
Directions
Get directions to the Drapkin Studio, located on the second floor of the Wallace Dance Building at the Lewis Arts complex.
Accessibility
The Drapkin Studio is an accessible venue with an assistive listening system. Visit our Venues and Studios section for accessibility information at our various locations. Guests in need of access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at 609-258-5262 or email LewisCenter@princeton.edu at least one week in advance of the event date.
About the Guest Artists
Larissa FastHorse. Photo credit: Conor Horgan
Larissa FastHorse (Sicangu Lakota Nation) is a 2020 MacArthur Fellow, award winning writer/choreographer, and co-founder of Indigenous Direction, the nation’s leading consulting company for Indigenous arts and audiences. Larissa will be represented across the country in the 2023-2024 season with a revised book of the beloved Jerome Robbins Broadway musical, Peter Pan. She made her Broadway debut in the 2022-2023 season with her satirical comedy, The Thanksgiving Play, making her the first known female, Native playwright to be produced on Broadway (second only to Lynne Riggs in the 1930s). The Thanksgiving Play has been one of the top ten most-produced plays in America for the last two seasons. She is the first Native American playwright in the history of American theater on that list. Larissa is also one of the top 20 most-produced playwrights of last season. Additional produced plays include For The People, The Democracy Project, What Would Crazy Horse Do?, Landless and Cow Pie Bingo, Average Family, Teaching Disco Squaredancing to Our Elders: a Class Presentation, Vanishing Point and Cherokee Family Reunion. In fall 2023, Larissa was a professor of practice (literature) at Arizona State University’s Department of English.
Photo courtesy of Michael John Garcés
Michael John Garcés is a Los Angeles-based director and playwright. Directing credits include For the People by Ty Defoe and Larissa FastHorse (The Guthrie Theatre), Wicoun, Native Nation and Urban Rez (Cornerstone Theater Company) and Thanksgiving Play (The Geffen Playhouse) by Larissa FastHorse, the just and the blind by Marc Bamuthi Joseph and Daniel Bernard Roumain (Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center), The Play You Want by Bernardo Cubrias (The Road Theatre Company), The Rivers Don’t Know by James McManus (City Theatre), Highland Park is Here by Mark Valdez (Cornerstone), Seize the King by Will Power (The Alliance Theatre), and Epic by Ellen Struve (Great Plains Theatre Commons). Plays he has written include Town (Theatre Horizon) and 36 Yesses (Cornerstone). He has worked at many other theaters across the country. Michael is the recipient of the Doris Duke Artist Award, the Princess Grace Statue Award, and the Alan Schneider Director Award. Michael was the artistic director of Cornerstone Theater Company, a nationally recognized community-engaged ensemble, for many years. He is currently a professor of practice at Arizona State University; is the executive vice president of the executive board of SDC, the theatrical union for stage directors and choreographers; and is a member of the Arts Advisory Council of the Princess Grace Foundation.
