Press Release: September 4, 2024

The Autry’s Native Voices Announces the Premiere of Antíkoni by Beth Piatote

Illustrated book cover featuring a figure with long, dark hair facing away against a backdrop with geometric star patterns. The title "ANTÍKONI" and the author's name "Beth Piatote" are prominently displayed at the bottom.

(September 4, 2024 - Los Angeles, CA)—Native Voices is excited to announce their 30th Anniversary production will be the World Premiere of Beth Piatote's Antíkoni. For this monumental milestone, Antíkoni will be staged at the historic Southwest Museum Campus. 

In this timely retelling of a Greek classic, a Nez Perce family is caught between the pressures of the outside world—where a Nationalist Party threatens to silence their history. Set in the near future, Antíkoni must defend eternal truths, Kreon rides the waves of changing politics, and a Chorus of Aunties delivers raucous and wise traditional stories to guide them. 

Native Voices’ Artistic Director, DeLanna Studi says, “This imaginative adaptation of the classic Greek tale makes us question what role museums have in caring for the dead. The play asks in new ways what the living owe the dead and what the dead demand of the living. And at what
cost? This venue [the Southwest Museum Campus] which once held a collection of Native ancestral remains and cultural materials, is a powerful symbol of our past. By choosing this historical site for the world premiere, Native Voices aims to actively reclaim the land and highlight the enduring power of Indigenous stories.” 

Join us in celebration as we reclaim both a physical structure, one that encased our art and ancestors while dismissing our humanity, and a literary structure deemed the epitome of western theatre which blatantly disregards one of the world's oldest forms of storytelling. 

For more information, please visit theAutry.org/NativeVoices.

Download press release as PDF (632.09 KB)

Press Inquiries

Sarah Crispi 
Communications Specialist 
323.495.4266 
scrispi@theautry.org

Land Acknowledgment

The Autry Museum of the American West acknowledges the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples as the traditional land caretakers of Tovaangar (the Los Angeles basin and So. Channel Islands). We recognize that the Autry Museum and its campuses are located on the traditional lands of Gabrielino/Tongva peoples and we pay our respects to the Honuukvetam (Ancestors), ‘Ahiihirom (Elders) and ‘Eyoohiinkem (our relatives/relations) past, present and emerging.

The Autry Museum in Griffith Park

4700 Western Heritage Way

Los Angeles, CA 90027-1462
Located northeast of downtown, across from the Los Angeles Zoo.
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