World Premiere of DESERT STORIES FOR LOST GIRLS to be Presented by Latino Theater Company/Native Voices in September

Do you believe your ancestors walk with you? Latino Theater Company partners with Native Voices at the Autry, the only Actors' Equity theater company in the country dedicated to developing and producing new plays by Native artists, to present a haunting and lyrical rumination on identity, family and colonialism over generations by Lily Rushing. Sylvia Cervantes Blush directs the world premiere of Desert Stories for Lost Girls, September 30 through October 16 at The Los Angeles Theatre Center. Low-priced previews begin September 28.

Somewhere we lost them
We forgot to remember
But she and she and she
They're with me now, so.

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.

"I was in college when my mother found an old census and I took a deep dive into researching my Genízaro identity," says Rushing, who hails from Sacramento and began developing the play as an undergraduate at DePaul University. "The characters in the play are all based on my ancestors. Placida, my great-great grandmother was sold into slavery as a child; she had my great grandfather when she was only 11 or 13 years old. My grandparents, Rosa and Joe, moved to California to escape sharecropping. But the other half of my family is still in New Mexico."

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.

"What excites me about Desert Stories is that it touches on very dark subject matter in a poetic way that lends itself for highly theatrical staging," says Blush. "It challenges us to let go of our expectation for a safe narrative. It invites us to lean into the words and visual storytelling to have an experience."

The cast of Desert Stories for Lost Girls includes Katie Anvil Rich (Cherokee, Chickasaw) as Carrie; Carolyn Dunn (Cherokee, Mvskoke Creek, French Creole and Tunica/Choctaw Biloxi descent) as Rosa; Samantha Bowling (Cherokee) as Placida; Rainbow Dickerson (Rappahannock, Thai, European descent) as Rosita, Rosa's younger self; Glenn Stanton (Cherokee), doubling as Rosita's husband, Joe, and Spanish landowner Nicholas Jacinto; and Tom Allard (Loyal Shawnee) as Carrie's Uncle Edgar.

The creative team includes scenic and props designer Christopher Scott Murillo; lighting and projection design team Derek Christiansen and Ruby O'Brien; sound designer Mia Glenn-Schuster; costume designer Lorna Bowen (Muscogee Creek, Seminole, Cherokee); and dramaturg Courtney Elkin Mohler (Santa Barbara Chumash). Desert Stories for Lost Girls is produced by Latino Theater Company in association with Native Voices at the Autry.

Desert Stories for Lost Girls was developed at DePaul University and in the Indigenous Circles collaboration between Native Voices and PlayPenn.

"We are thrilled to be collaborating on our first co-production, as this partnership exemplifies community and is a powerful example of the way American theater could and should be," said Latino Theater Company artistic director José Luis Valenzuela and Native Voices artistic director DeLanna Studi in a joint statement.

Lily Rushing is a playwright and artist from Sacramento, CA. She is the 2018 recipient of The Playwriting Initiative award at Interrobang Theatre Project, where she wrote Cowboy Play. In 2020 Cowboy Play was part of the Read, Rant, and Relate Series by Relative Theatrics. She received her B.F.A in playwriting from the Theatre School at DePaul University.

Native Voices at the Autry is the country's only Actors' Equity theater company devoted exclusively to developing and producing new works for the stage by Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and First Nations playwrights. The company has been hailed by critics as "a virtual Who's Who of American Indian theater artists," "a hotbed for contemporary Native theater," "deeply compelling" and "a powerful and eloquent voice." Founded in 1994 by Randy Reinholz (Choctaw) and Jean Bruce Scott, Native Voices is now helmed by artistic director DeLanna Studi (Cherokee) and managing director Elisa Blandford. It has been the resident theater company at the Autry Museum since 1999.

The Latino Theater Company is dedicated to providing a world-class arts center for those pursuing artistic excellence; a laboratory where both tradition and innovation are honored and honed; and a place where the convergence of people, cultures and ideas contribute to the future. The Latino Theater Company Fall Season kicks off on September 15 with a touring production of Melancholia to Los Angeles City colleges as part of the company's IMPACT education initiative. Following Desert Stories for Lost Girls, the season continues with the world premiere of the ensemble-devised Whittier Boulevard, opening October 7; the presentation of Jesús I. Valles' (Un)Documents beginning October 14; and the 20th anniversary production of LTC's annual holiday spectacle La Virgen de Guadalupe, Dios Inantzin at Downtown L.A.'s Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on December 2 and 3. Now in its 37th year, LTC has operated The Los Angeles Theatre Center, a landmark building in Downtown's Historic Core, since 2006.

Desert Stories for Lost Girls opens on Friday, Sept. 30 at 8 p.m., with performances thereafter taking place on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m. through October 16. Two preview performances take place on Wednesday, Sept. 28 and Thursday, Sept. 29, each at 8 p.m. Tickets range from $10-$48, except opening night which is $58 and includes a reception, and previews, which are Pay-What-You-Choose starting at $5.

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).

To purchase tickets and for more information, including up-to-date Covid-19 safety protocols on the day of each performance, call (213) 489-0994 or go to www.latinotheaterco.org.

Content warning: This play explores many aspects of injustice against Indigenous peoples that are emotionally distressing. Indigenous women in our time are disproportionately more likely to experience sexual assault and violence than any other demographic group. This play reckons with the historical reality of sexual violence as a tool of colonization and holds space for the psychological impacts of such abuse through generations.

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