Photos: First Look at Latino Theater Company and Native Voices' DESERT STORIES FOR LOST GIRLS

Latino Theater Company will partners with Native Voices at the Autry to present Desert Stories for Lost Girls, a haunting and lyrical rumination on identity, family and colonialism over generations written by Lily Rushing and directed by Sylvia Cervantes Blush.

Check out photos from the production below!

When 18-year-old Carrie moves in with her grandmother, she is thrown into a world of memory and mystery that unearths her family's Genízaro identity - shining a light on a dark, bloody and little-known period in the history of the American Southwest.

Beginning in the early 1600s, Spanish colonists sought to "reeducate" (some say "detribalize") the Native people of the Southwest. Funded by the Spanish Crown, the Spanish first abducted and then later purchased war captives from surrounding tribes, including Apache, Comanche, Kiowa, Navajo, Pawnee and Ute. The colonists took these individuals to their households, where they were taught Spanish and converted to Catholicism. They were forced to work as household servants, tend fields, herd livestock, and serve as frontier militia to protect Spanish settlements. Many endured physical abuse, including sexual assault. The Spanish called these captives and their children "Genízaro" (heˈnēsǝrō). Today, Genízaros comprise as much as one-third of the population of New Mexico and southern Colorado.

In the play, each time Carrie and Rosa touch an object that links Rosa to her past, they are launched into her memories, bringing Carrie closer to understanding the truth of her heritage.

Performances of Desert Stories for Lost Girls continue through October 16 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m. The Los Angeles Theatre Center is located at 514 S. Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90013. Parking is available for $5 with box office validation at Joe's Parking structure, 530 S. Spring St. (immediately south of the theater). Tickets range from $10-$48.

To purchase tickets and for more information, call (213) 489-0994 or go to www.latinotheaterco.org.

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