For our 15th Annual Short Play Festival, playwrights will boldly go where few have imagined Native people before: the future! Native Voices has asked playwrights to venture into the realm of Indigenous Futurisms. What does our collective future look like? Did we prevent the apocalypse or cause it? Will there be zombies? World peace? A Native World Leader?!? Selected short plays will be performed in an afternoon of staged readings where playwrights have a chance to win the Thomas Studie Gadugi Audience Prize of $500 and the Von Marie Atchley Excellence in Playwriting Award of $1,000.
Native Voices is thrilled to bring back their Young Native Playwrights program for a second year! Many Native stories recount how their tribe received the First Fire. While our stories differ from Nation to Nation and region to region, one detail remains the same: there have always been people who have carried the embers of the First Fire with them, lighting future fires and ensuring the First Fire would always be with us. We believe our youth are the EMBERS, the next generation of storytellers and leaders that will light fires for future generations. In the spring, Native youth across Turtle Island will participate in our eight-week playwriting course to nourish, elevate, and amplify their voices. Classes will culminate with their 10-minute plays being performed onstage and streamed live so that audiences from around the world can witness the creative imaginings of these Native youth.
Many of the plays Native Voices has developed through our annual Playwrights Retreat and Festival of New Plays have gone on to enjoy successful productions across the country. As a cornerstone of our season, the Retreat and Festival provide emerging and established playwrights a rigorous opportunity to shape their plays through Distance Dramaturgy and a weeklong residency in Los Angeles where collaboration occurs in daily workshops with nationally recognized directors, dramaturgs, and the Native Voices acting company. The Festival of New Plays is a series of staged readings performed at the Autry and La Jolla Playhouse.
Actors Equity Foundation · Laura and Dean Beresford · Rafael Bruno and Cristian Hamilton · Tonantzín Carmelo · David Cartwright · Peter Chalk and Daniel Neal · Elena Finley Endlich · First Peoples Fund Native Arts Ecology Building Grant · Patty Glaser and Sam Mudie · Carole Goldberg and Duane Champagne · Greenberg Foundation · Shawn Imitates Dog · Helene Jacobs · Judy Jacobs · Shelby Jiggetts-Tivony · Diane Levine · Heidi Levine-Gonzalez · Peter Glenville Foundation · Brenda and Gary Ruttenberg · Seeley W. Mudd Foundation · The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation · Theater League of Kansas City · Cynthia Burstein Waldman and Vincent Waldman
NATIVE VOICES SUPPORT COMMITTEE:
Tonantzín Carmelo · Elena Finley Endlich · Carole Goldberg and Duane Champagne · Kimberly Guerrero · Shelby Jiggetts-Tivony · Diane Levine · Heidi Levine-Gonzalez · Daryl Roth · Gloria Steinem
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.
4700 Western Heritage Way
Los Angeles, CA 90027-1462
Located northeast of downtown, across from the Los Angeles Zoo.
Map and Directions
Free parking for Autry visitors.
MUSEUM AND STORE HOURS
Tuesday–Friday 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
Saturday–Sunday 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
DINING
Food Trucks are available on select days, contact us for details at 323.495.4252.
The cafe is temporarily closed until further notice.