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TOM ONTIVEROS, Projection Designer
Tom Ontiveros’s credits include Guards at the Taj (La Jolla Playhouse); /peh-LO-tah/ (Yerba
Buena Center for the Arts); ¡Figaro! (90210) (L.A. Opera); Seven Spots on the Sun, Shiv, My
Barking Dog, and Happy Days (Boston Court); Completeness (Nominated Best Lighting Design,
Ovation and Ticketholder Awards); The Exonerated (NYC premiere); The Tune-In Music Festival
(Park Avenue Armory); Schick Machine (Hong Kong Cultural Centre); Garden of Deadly Sound
(Hungarian National Theatre Festival); Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music (Santa Cruz
Civic); Slide (Ojai Music Festival); Enemy Slayer (Phoenix Symphony); and Fast Company and
Motherf**ker with the Hat (South Coast Rep). He is an Assistant Professor of Lighting Design at
USC. Special thanks to Tessa Branyan and Alaska Photos.
LA JOLLA P LAYHOUSE P RESE NTS
SHIRLEY FISHMAN, Dramaturg
During fifteen years at La Jolla Playhouse, Ms. Fishman has worked on such plays and musicals as
Indecent, Healing Wars, Come From Away, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Chasing the Song,
Ether Dome, Side Show, Sideways, Glengarry Glen Ross, An Iliad, Hands on a Hardbody, American
Night, 2016 POP Tour Alice Chan and other projects in development. During her five years at the
Joseph Papp Public Theater she dramaturged such projects as Jessica Hagedorn’s Dogeaters, Two
Sisters and a Piano by Nilo Cruz and Tina Landau’s Space, among others, and was co-curator of the
New Work Now! annual new play festival. She serves as a Playwright’s Dramaturg for UC San
Diego’s Wagner New Play Festival and has been a dramaturg at Sundance Theatre Lab, Denver
Theatre Center, Magic Theatre, Native Voices at the Autry and Playwrights Project, among others.
She is an M.F.A. graduate of Columbia University’s Theatre Theory/Criticism/Dramaturgy program.
AT THE AUTRY
SUSAN K. COULTER, Production Stage Manager
bounces between being a stage manager and a production manager in Los Angeles and is happy
to return to the booth for Native Voices after last year’s South Dakota production of Stand-Off at
HWY #37. Other credits with Native Voices include The Frybread Queen, Walking on Turtle Island,
Ghostlands of an Urban NDN, and numerous staged readings and festivals. She has also worked
with many other Los Angeles theatre companies including Furious Theater Company, Electric
Footlights, Fugitive Kind Theatre Company, and Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre. She holds an MFA in
stage management from UC–Irvine and a BA in theater from the University of Missouri, Kansas City.
Featuring New Plays by
Christopher Ashley, Artistic Director
Jason Grasl (Blackfeet)
18TH FESTIVAL OF
NEW PLAYS
June 7 – 9
Michael S. Rosenberg, Managing Director
IN ASSOCIATION WITH ALASKA’S PERSEVERANCE THEATRE,
NATIVE VOICES AT THE AUTRY’S PRODUCTION OF
Mary Kathryn Nagle (Cherokee)
DeLanna Studi (Cherokee)
NATIVE VOICES AT THE AUTRY IS DEVOTED TO DEVELOPING AND PRODUCING NEW WORKS FOR THE
STAGE BY NATIVE AMERICANS AND IS MADE POSSIBLE IN PART BY GRANTS FROM THE FOLLOWING:
San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs,
Edison International, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, The Nissan Foundation, Seven Post,
SoCal Gas, Sony Pictures, The Walt Disney Company, Wells Fargo, Marti Wiedman and John Quick
WRITTEN BY
FRANK HENRY KAASH KATASSE (TLINGIT)
DIRECTED BY
RANDY REINHOLZ (CHOCTAW)
FEATURING
JENNIFER BOBIWASH, DARRELL DENNIS*, DUANE MINARD,
KHOLAN STUDI, BRÍAN PAGAQ WESCOTT, ROMÁN ZARAGOZA
NATIVE VOICES AT THE AUTRY
Native Voices at the Autry is the only Equity theatre company devoted exclusively to developing
and producing new works for the stage by Native American, Alaska Native, and First Nations
playwrights. Founded in 1994 by Producing Artistic Director Randy Reinholz (Choctaw) and
Producing Executive Director Jean Bruce Scott, Native Voices became the resident theatre
company at the Autry Museum of the American West in 1999. The company provides a
supportive, collaborative setting for Native theatre artists from across North America. The
company recently established the Native Voices Artists Ensemble to more fully support the
extraordinary talents of its Native actors, writers, musicians, and directors. The Ensemble is
devoted to developing new work in a collaborative process as well as supporting Native Voices’
ongoing focus on the work of individual playwrights. Native Voices is a member of Actors’
Equity Association, LA Stage Alliance, and the Dramatists Guild, and is a Constituent Theatre of
Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre.
LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE
The Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse is internationally-renowned for creating some of the
most exciting and adventurous work in American theatre, through its new play development
initiatives, its innovative Without Walls series, and artist residencies and commissions, including
BD Wong, Daniel Beaty and Kirsten Greenidge. Currently led by Artistic Director Christopher
Ashley and Managing Director Michael S. Rosenberg, the Playhouse was founded in 1947 by
Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, and reborn in 1983 under the artistic leadership
of Des McAnuff. La Jolla Playhouse has had 25 productions transfer to Broadway, garnering 35
Tony Awards, among them Jersey Boys, Memphis, The Who’s Tommy, Big River, as well as Billy
Crystal’s 700 Sundays and the Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, both fostered as part of
the Playhouse’s Page To Stage Program. Visit LaJollaPlayhouse.org.
LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE PRESENTS
June 28 – July 24
LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE 2016/2017 SEASON SPONSORS
THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE: Anonymous, Joan & Irwin Jacobs, Sheri L. Jamieson, Becky Moores,
The Dr. Seuss Fund at the San Diego Foundation
SEASON SPONSORS: The James Irvine Foundation, Commission for Arts and Culture – City of San Diego,
The Wallace Foundation, Qualcomm, Gurtin Fixed Income, The Shubert Foundation, The William Hall Tippett and
Ruth Rathell Tippett Foundation, David C. Copley Foundation, Gail & Ralph Bryan, The Fredman Family,
Lynelle & William Lynch, Vivien & Jeffrey Ressler, Steven Strauss & Lise Wilson, and the Mandell Weiss Charitable Trust
(858) 550-1010 LaJollaPlayhouse.org
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS RANDY REINHOLZ (CHOCTAW),
JEAN BRUCE SCOTT
COMPOSER, CHOREOGRAPHER,
TLINGIT LANGUAGE ADVISOR ED LITTLEFIELD (TLINGIT)
SCENIC & PROPS DESIGN SARA RYUNG CLEMENT
COSTUME DESIGN E. B. BROOKS (SAMI, ALGONQUIN)
LIGHTING DESIGN R. CRAIG WOLF
SOUND DESIGN JOHN NOBORI
PROJECTION DESIGN TOM ONTIVEROS
LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE DRAMATURG SHIRLEY FISHMAN
NATIVE VOICES LITERARY MANAGER JESSICA ORDON
PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER SUSAN K. COULTER*
NATIVE VOICES PRODUCTION MANAGER ELISA BLANDFORD
LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE
ASSISTANT PRODUCTION MANAGER BECCA DUHAIME
NATIVE VOICES AT THE AUTRY IS THE 2016/2017 RESIDENT THEATRE COMPANY AT LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE
THE CAST
(IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
JENNIFER BOBIWASH........................................................................................................ LINDA
DUANE MINARD...............................................................................................................PAUL SR.
KHOLAN STUDI .................................................................................................................EDWARD
BRÍAN PAGAQ WESCOTT ...................................................................................TIM/MINISTER
ROMÁN ZARAGOZA.................................................................................................................NICK
UNDERSTUDY: DARRELL DENNIS
SETTING
A Tlingit fishing village in Southeast Alaska, 1994
They Don’t Talk Back is performed with a 15-minute intermission.
MUSIC
COMPOSER ............................................................................................................................................................... ED LITTLEFIELD **
TRANSLATORS ...............................................................................................X’UNEI LANCE TWITCHELL, KATRINA H. CAIN
TLINGIT AUDIO RECORDING .............................................................................................................X’UNEI LANCE TWITCHELL
AUDIO RECORDING OF “WASHED IN THE BLOOD” .......................................................................................ROB GALLAGHER
CULTURAL SPECIALIST................................................................................................. KONRAD SHÁK’SHAANI ÉESH FRANK
**LINDA’S FIRST SONG INSPIRED BY CLARA PERATROVICH’S “THE HOOK SONG”
ADDITIONAL PRODUCTION STAFF
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR.................................................................................................................................................... JOAN HURWIT
ASSOCIATE LIGHTING DESIGNER
KYLE MONTGOMERY
LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE PRODUCTION CARPENTER...................................................................................................STEPHANIE LEE
LIGHT BOARD OPERATOR........................................................................................................................ALEXANDRA MILLER-LONG
SOUND ENGINEER..................................................................................................................................................CHRIS LUESSMANN
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT .................................................................................................................................GRACE PEÑARANDA
SET CONSTRUCTION .............................................................................................................EAST WEST PLAYERS SCENIC SHOP
PRODUCTION MANAGER......................................................................................................................................................ANDY LOWE
MASTER CARPENTER................................................................................................................................................... MITSUHARU ISA
SCENIC CHARGE ARTIST .......................................................................................................................................TESSHI NAKAGAWA
CARPENTERS................TAKUJI “CLUTCH” KURAMOTO, YOSHI IRIE, SEAN LEWELLYN, BRAD ENLOW, JUAN HOLGUIN
SCENIC PAINTERS.................................................................................STEVE CORREA, KRISTA PERKINS, NAOMI KASAHARA
* Members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. The theatre operates
under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres and Actors’ Equity Association.
This theatre operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society,
an independent national labor union.
This theatre operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres and United Scenic Artists, Local USA-829 of the IATSE.
La Jolla Playhouse is a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and a constituent of Theatre Communications Group (TCG),
the national service organization for the nonprofit professional theatre.
JENNIFER BOBIWASH (Ojibway), Linda
has been involved with Native Voices since 2003 and is a Lead Artist in the
Ensemble. Her one-person show, There Is No “I” in NDN, premiered at the 2015
Hollywood Fringe Festival. She guest starred on APTN’s (Canada) Mohawk Girls,
and created the YouTube channel Welcome to the Tipi, on which she and her
co-host share their stories about being NDN in today’s society. A technophile, she
jumped at the chance to create content in the infancy of YouTube and has since
produced more than 300 episodes of online content.
DUANE MINARD, (Yurok, Piaute) Paul Sr.
performed as Alessandro in the nationally recognized production of Ramona for
five consecutive seasons. His recent theatre credits include Off the Rails and
Stories from the Indian Boarding School (Hollywood Fringe Festival). Other
theatre credits include Zorro, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and The Bad
Seed. His recent TV credits include two episodes of Mysteries at the Museum,
and he is appearing in several films in progress.
KHOLAN STUDI, (Cherokee) Edward
was born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The son of actor Wes Studi
and the grandson of Jack Albertson, Studi was bitten by the acting bug early
on in life and recently completed his training at the American Academy of
Dramatic Arts.
BRÍAN PAGAQ WESCOTT, (Athabascan, Yup’ik) Tim
recently toured three plays in Alaska, including an Arctic adaptation of A
Midsummer Night’s Dream, and played the lead role in The Winter Bear Project, a
suicide-prevention play. His film credits include Four Quarters, It’s Dark Here, and
the upcoming movie, The Pipeline. He serves on the Native Committees at
SAG-AFTRA and the WGA.
ROMÁN ZARAGOZA, (Pima) Nick
can currently be seen as Miles on Austin & Ally, the hit Disney Channel show. Other
TV credits include Nickelodeon’s Everyday Kid, the Conan O’Brien Show, Sesame
Street, and numerous national commercials. He has worked with such notable
directors as Ron Howard and Fred Savage, and has theatrical credits in both New
York City and Los Angeles.
DARRELL DENNIS, (Shuswap) Understudy: Paul Sr. and Tim
is a First Nations actor/writer/comedian from the Shuswap Nation in British
Columbia. This award-winning playwright’s works have been published by Canada
Playwrights Press and in periodicals across Canada and the U.S. Dennis is currently
a regular on the APTN series Blackstone and the Teen Nick series Open Heart. His
book Peace Pipe Dreams: The Truth About Lies About Indians from Douglas &
Macintyre Publishing is now available in bookstores and online.
FRANK HENRY KAASH KATASSE, (Tlingit) Playwright
is an Alaska Native from the Tlingit clan Tsaagweidí. Katasse is an actor, director, producer,
improviser, and playwright who received his Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre Arts from the
University of Hawaii, Mānoa in 2008. While in Hawai’i Katasse worked with Kennedy Theatre,
Kumu Kahua Theatre, and the Cruel Theatre. In 2008 Katasse moved back to Juneau, Alaska
and was first involved with Perseverance Theatre (PT) with the Mainstage production of The
Government Inspector. His body of work as an actor also includes world premieres of Alaska
Native-themed plays Battles of Fire and Water, Reincarnation of Stories, Cedar House, and Our
Voices Will Be Heard. Other mainstage shows include The Skin of our Teeth, Oklahoma!, and
Chicago. Frank was also involved with PT’s 2nd Stage as a director/producer of Vashon, and as a
performer in Marisol for the University of Alaska, Southeast. In Juneau, Katasse has performed
with Theatre in the Rough, Juneau Symphony, and Morally Improv-erished. Katasse is currently
the Board President of Juneau-Douglas Little Theatre. Katasse is the proud recipient of the 2015
Von Marie Atchley Excellence in Playwriting Award from Native Voices at the Autry for his short
play Reeling. In 2015 Katasse had his play Bear in Stream read at the Leviathan Lab in NYC.
RANDY REINHOLZ, (Choctaw) Director/Native Voices Producing Artistic Director
is co-founder of Native Voices at the Autry. An accomplished producer, director, playwright and
actor, he has produced and directed over 75 plays, directing productions nationally and
internationally at Native Voices at the Autry in Los Angeles; La Jolla Playhouse; Public Theater in
New York; National Museum of the American Indian in New York and Washington D.C; Idyllwild
Arts, CA; The Gilcrease Museum, OK; The Cherokee Casino; The Glenbow Museum, Calgary,
Alberta; The 30th International Theatre Institute World Congress, for United Nations
Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico; 16th ASSITEJ
World Congress and Performing Arts Festival in Adelaide, Australia and Queensland State
Library, Brisbane, Australia; and university productions for Cornell University, Duke University,
University of Miami Ohio, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Illinois State University and San
Diego State University, where he served as Head of Acting, then Director for the School of
Theater, Television and Film and as Director of Community Engagement and Innovative
Programs for the College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts.
JEAN BRUCE SCOTT, Native Voices Producing Artistic Director
Co-founder of Native Voices at the Autry, she has spent 20 years developing new plays, including
over 200 by Native American playwrights. She has produced 30 premieres, 21 New Play Festivals,
12 Playwrights Retreats, more than 200 play readings, and 20 national and international tours. She
is co-creator of the Native Radio Theater Project, a collaboration between Native Voices and
Native American Public Telecommunications, and developed the Alaska Native Playwrights
Project. Scott is on the Leadership Board of the Theatrical Producers League of Los Angeles, Large
Theatres and is an elected member to the National Theatre Conference, New York.
ED LITTLEFIELD, (Tlingit) Tinglit Language Adivisor, Composer, Choreographer
is a freelance percussionist, educator, and composer living in Seattle, Washington. He performs
in many ensembles of different genres, including the internationally known ensemble The Dallas
Brass, Juxtapercussion, and the Native Jazz Quartet. Originally from Sitka, Alaska, Littlefield has
drawn from traditional music and melodies of his heritage to progress to a genre that combines
jazz stylings with Tlingit folkloric music. His group, the Native Jazz Quartet, has extensively
toured throughout South America at the behest of the U.S. State Department.
SARA RYUNG CLEMENT, Scenic and Props Designer
is a Los Angeles–based set and costume designer. Currently running projects include set and
costumes for Vietgone at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and set design for The Golden
Dragon at The Theatre @ Boston Court. Additional design credits include South Coast
Repertory, East West Players, The Chance Theatre, Cornerstone Theater Company, Denver
Center Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, Center Stage, A Noise Within, Open Fist, TheatreWorks, and Marin Theatre Company. She holds an MFA from Yale School of Drama and an A.B.
from Princeton University. Member of USA 829.
E. B. BROOKS, (Sami, Algonquin) Costume Designer
designed costumes for Stand Off at HWY #37 and Birdhouse, and was costume respondent for
the 2013, 2014, and 2015 Playwrights Retreat (Native Voices); Choir Boy, Wait Until Dark, Build,
and Good People (Geffen Playhouse); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare Center of Los
Angeles); and The Language Archive and A Nice Indian Boy (East West Players). She also
designs for film, television, and commercials. Brooks received her MFA from CalArts and has
taught at USC, UCLA, CalTech, and Willamette University. Member of USA 829 and CDG 892.
R. CRAIG WOLF, Lighting Designer
has taught and designed lighting nationwide for both theatre and dance. Credits include
designs for New York’s Dance Theatre Workshop, Theatre Artaud in San Francisco, Japan
America Center in Los Angeles, SRT in Santa Rosa, and Cygnet Theatre and the Old Globe in
San Diego. Professor Emeritus and former Head of Design at San Diego State University, Wolf is
the co-author of Scene Design and Stage Lighting, now in its tenth edition. He is pleased to
return to Native Voices at the Autry, where he previously created the scenery and lighting for
Urban Tattoo and the lighting for nearly all of their productions.
JOHN NOBORI, Sound Designer
has designed sound and composed music for theatre in and out of Southern California for eight
years. His work has been heard in plays produced by such organizations as Cornerstone Theater
Company, The Theatre @ Boston Court, Musical Theater West, and Oregon Shakespeare
Festival. He has been nominated for several awards for excellence in sound design, including an
Ovation Award nomination for Best Sound Design in Intimate Theater for his work with Rogue
Artists Ensemble. He received his BA from the University of California, Irvine.