Native Voices At The Autry Presents First Look At HURRICANE SAVAGE

On Saturday, October 6, Native Voices at the Autry, America's leading Native American theatre company, presents Hurricane Savage as part of its First Look Series, a script development process that brings playwrights together with professional directors, dramaturgs, and actors.  

Written by Montana Cypress (Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida), Hurricane Savage takes place in the midst of a Category 5 hurricane, as an estranged son returns to his childhood home where the past haunts the living and the dead. It's there, deep in the Everglades, where the devastating effects of long-held secrets, human nature, and the inability to express oneself combine with the unpredictable, unrelenting force of Mother nature.

"Montana Cypress is a young playwright to watch," said Jean Bruce Scott, Native Voices Producing Executive Director. "His newest full-length play, Hurricane Savage, moves with the force and intensity of the mega storms that inspired it. His characters seek the truth with a breathless vibrancy no matter the consequences. Do not miss this exciting afternoon in the theater!"

Native Voices at the Autry's First Look Series is a script development process that brings playwrights together with professional directors, dramaturgs, and actors. Full-length plays are workshopped and prepared for a public staged reading and discussion, giving the playwright an opportunity to hear the play-often for the first time-with a live audience. Plays can be new works, works-in-progress, or material that has already been produced at another venue that the playwright would like to revise for future productions.

Hurricane Savage is free but reservations are recommended. See it on Saturday, October 6, 2018 at 1:30 p.m. at the Autry Museum of the American West, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Los Angeles, Ca 90027. For reservations and additional information, visit TheAutry.org/NativeVoices.

Creative Team

Montana Cypress (Miccosukee Tribe of South Florida*) (Playwright) is a Los Angeles-based playwright and actor. Montana lived most of his life on the Miccosukee Indian Reservation located in the heart of the Everglades. In 2015, he made the move from South Florida to Los Angeles to study acting at the New York Film Academy in Burbank where he discovered a talent for writing. He's continued to act, write, and direct short films in addition to writing plays and short stories. Montana is a new member of the Native Voices Artists Ensemble and lives in Burbank. Jason Grasl (Blackfeet*) (Director) has been involved with Native Voices since 2007. He has performed at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre, New York's Public Theatre, and La Jolla Playhouse. His stage credits include Cherokee, The Blame of Love (which he also wrote), Trophies, Sliver of a Full Moon, and Tony n' Tina's Wedding. Film credits include Cassidy Red and Fantasy Football: The Movie. His TV credits include Hot in Cleveland and White Collar. Grasl is also a member of the Mayflower Welcoming Committee and serves on the SAG-AFTRA Native American Committee. Randy Reinholz, (Choctaw*) (Founder and Producing Artistic Director of Native Voices at the Autry) is an accomplished producer, director, actor, and playwright. Off the Rails, his bawdy and irreverent adaptation of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, had its world premiere at Oregon Shakespeare Festival with Bill Rauch directing in 2017. He has produced more than 30 scripts and directed over 60 plays in the United States, Australia, England, and Canada. Reinholz is a Professor at San Diego State University, where he served as Head of Acting from 1997-2007, Director of the School of Theatre, Television, and Film from 2007-2012, and Director of Community Engagement and Innovation for the College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts at SDSU from 2012-2015. Jean Bruce Scott (Founder and Producing Executive Director of Native Voices at the Autry) has spent over 25 years developing new plays, including more than 200 by Native American Playwrights. For Native Voices, she has produced 25 plays (including 22 world premieres) in 38 productions, 24 New Play Festivals, 8 Short Play Festivals, 15 Playwrights Retreats, numerous national and international tours, and over 260 play readings. In 2014 Scott was instrumental in formalizing the Native Voices Artists Ensemble to mentor and support outstanding and promising Native American actors, writers, musicians, directors, designers, and producers. She has received a McKnight Fellowship, a MAP Grant, Playwrights Arena's lee Melville Award, and serves on the Leadership Board of the Theatrical Producers League of Los Angeles, Large Theatres, and is a member of the National Theatre Conference, New York.

Native Voices Is Sponsored By

The Actors' Equity Foundation, Department of Cultural Affairs (City of Los Angeles), Edison International, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, The Nissan Foundation, San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, Shubert Foundation, SoCal Gas, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and The Walt Disney Company.

About 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.
The theatre company is committed to putting Native narratives at the center of the American story in order to facilitate a more inclusive dialog on what it means to be American. 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. In 2014 the company 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 at the Autry is a member of Actors' Equity Association, LA Stage Alliance, and the Dramatists Guild, an associate member of the National New Play Network and is a Constituent Theatre of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre. Visit TheAutry.org/NativeVoices for more information.

About the Autry Museum of the American West

The Autry is a museum dedicated to exploring and sharing the stories, experiences, and perceptions of the diverse peoples of the American West, connecting the past to the present to inspire our shared future. The museum presents a wide range of exhibitions and public programs-including lectures, film, theatre, festivals, family events, and music-and performs scholarship, research, and educational outreach. The Autry's collection of more than 500,000 pieces of art and artifacts includes the Southwest Museum of the American Indian Collection, one of the largest and most significant of Native American materials in the United States.