The Cheyenne River Youth Project announced today that it will welcome the Los Angeles-based Cornerstone Theater Company to its Eagle Butte campus on Friday, June 16. The touring company will perform the play “Wicoun” at 6:30 p.m. in CRYP’s Waniyetu Wowapi (Winter Count) Art Park, and all tickets are free-will donation. (The “Wicoun cast and creative team are pictured here.)
What’s more, Cornerstone Theater Company and CRYP will present a free youth theater camp on Wednesday, June 14 and Thursday, June 15 at 12-4 p.m. Open to youth ages 11 and up, the camp will allow young people to learn the fundamentals of theater while sharing and creating stories; it will end with a public sharing of a short play prior to the “Wicoun” performance on June 16.
“Wicoun” is a new play with and about the Oceti Sakowin (People of the Seven Council Fires). It is third in a series of productions in collaboration with Sicangu Lakota playwright Larissa FastHorse and Native people living across the United States; it follows “Urban Rez” and “Native Nation,” which were collaborations with Native peoples from or living in the Los Angeles and Phoenix areas, respectively.
“This new production is created with and for the interconnected but widely dispersed residents of the Sicangu Lakota Nation (Rosebud), Oglala Lakota Nation (Pine Ridge), Ihanktonwan Dakota Oyate (Yankton), and other Lakota reservations, as well as Rapid City,” the Cornerstone Theater Company notes on its website. The company is performing “Wicoun” in these and other South Dakota communities through June 16, when it stages the tour’s final performance at CRYP.
Larissa FastHorse is one of the country’s leading playwrights, and she is the first Native American woman dramatist to be produced on Broadway. She has called this work the most meaningful of her career.
“Growing up as a Lakota woman in South Dakota, I believed that I had to leave to be a professional performing artist,” FastHorse said in a statement. “That is why doing this production at home is important to me. We are employing so many local Native American artists and production people. We are creating a model for touring both rural and urban tribal centers. We are showing my people as contemporary artists while still using our language and traditional concepts.”
Julie Garreau, CRYP’s executive director, said this resonated with her. Garreau grew up on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, and she has been serving Lakota children and families for nearly 35 years through the grassroots, nonprofit youth project.
“When I was young, I didn’t think these legacy performing arts institutions were for me,” Garreau reflected. “I lived in a remote, rural place, and I was Native. But this performance is by and for Native people, and I know the kids who come to CRYP to experience ‘Wicoun’ on June 16 will be forever changed by it. They will understand on a heart level that the performing arts are meant for them too.
“It’s hard to overstate how empowering it is to see yourself in these roles,” she continued. “The opportunity to host ‘Wicoun’ is important for CRYP, but it’s even more than that. It is a profound honor for us as Lakota people.”
Written by FastHorse and directed by Michael John Garcés, “Wicoun” tells the story of Lakota brothers Áya and Khoskalaka, who have their hands full raising their siblings and cousins, dealing with zombies, and trying to finish high school. When Áya summons a traditional superhero in a moment of bravery, they undertake a journey across the lands of the Oceti Sakowin to find answers in the old stories, within themselves, and in Paha Sapa, the sacred Black Hills.
The “Wicoun” cast features six community actors from Dakota, Nakota, and Lakota tribes, two Cornerstone ensemble members, and dozens of puppets. Performed in Lakota, Dakota, and English, the production was designed in collaboration with Oceti Sakowin artists — including Talon Bazille Ducheneaux, who has served as a CRYP guest art instructor and also will be performing at the youth project’s 9th annual RedCan invitational graffiti jam in July.
In addition to CRYP, Cornerstone Theater Company also is partnering with First Peoples Fund, Racing Magpie, Black Hills Playhouse, Black Hills Community Theater, the City of Rapid City, Lakota Youth Development, and Lakota culture bearers throughout the Oceti Sakowin.
To see the full list of performances, visit cornerstonetheater.org/shows/wicoun/.
To learn more about the Cheyenne River Youth Project and its programs, and for information about making donations and volunteering, call (605) 964-8200 or visit www.lakotayouth.org. And, to stay up to date on the latest CRYP news and events, follow the youth project on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
The Cheyenne River Youth Project, founded in 1988, is a grassroots, not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing the youth of the Cheyenne River reservation with access to a vibrant and secure future through a wide variety of culturally sensitive and enduring programs, projects and facilities that ensure strong, self-sufficient families and communities.