Cassie Funmaker, Taya Dixon And Carlos-Zenen Trujillo To Star In ANTÍKONI Pacific Northwest Premiere
Jeanette Harrison will direct the Native Performing Arts Network and Bag&Baggage co-production in Hillsboro.
Native Performing Arts Network has announced the cast for its next production, the Pacific Northwest premiere of ANTÍKONI by Beth Piatote. The final show of Bag&Baggage’s 2025/2026 season, this co-production is a reimagining of Sophocles’ Antigone, framed through a Native American perspective.
Set within a museum filled with Indigenous belongings in a near-future world where Nationalists have seized power, a Nez Perce family is caught between the demands of modern survival and the sacred traditions they are determined to uphold. At the center of the story is Kreon, a Native museum curator who complies with the new regime to protect his position, and his niece Antíkoni, who resists, risking everything to honor what is sacred.
“I’m thrilled that Native Performing Arts Network and Bag&Baggage are banding together to tell a story this epic and this timely,” says Jeanette Harrison, NPAN Creative Director, who will direct the nine-actor play.
Cassie Funmaker, a Ho-Chunk Nation citizen who appeared in NPAN’s first production, Diné Nishłį (i am a sacred being) Or, A Boarding School Play, will star in the title role. Bag&Baggage resident artist Taya Dixon will play Antíkoni’s sister Ismene, with Carlos-Zenen Trujillo also joining the cast. Edward Lyons, Jr. will appear as Kreon. The chorus of Aunties will be performed by Star Lawson, Howell Shepherd, and Aurora Hernandez. Cuin Moore and Nathan Woodworth round out the cast, with Woodworth portraying Antíkoni’s love interest.
“I love what Beth has done by using a Greek play and transforming it through a Native lens,” said Taya Dixon (Confederated Tribes of Siletz). “I’m excited to explore a character I technically already know, but in a completely new context. Ismene is a concerned sister, trying to understand her sister's perspective while also trying to make sure she stays safe. I’m excited to explore the world of this family, and how they navigate a conflict that has no easy solution.”
In adapting the original Greek text, playwright Beth Piatote retains its central questions while shifting the cultural framework. “Sophocles' Antigone is a brilliant work that centers on a young woman standing up to the unchecked authoritarian power wielded by her uncle,” Piatote said, “putting forward the questions of state power and its destructive nature, as well as articulating moral resistance and naming misogyny. While retaining many of the central questions of the original, my adaptation shifts the context and replaces the Greek chorus with a chorus of Aunties who tell traditional Nez Perce stories. The heart of the play is in these stories, showing how power distorts our values while offering ways to overcome it.”
The artistic team includes Indigenous artists representing Tlingit, Navajo, Onondaga, and Native Hawaiian communities. Kellen Trenal, who is of African (Black American) and niimíipuu (Nez Perce) ancestry, will design both properties and costumes. Musician Ed Littlefield, Tlingit from Sitka, Alaska, will serve as sound designer.
The production will begin preview performances June 4 at Bag&Baggage’s The Vault Theater & Event Space in downtown Hillsboro and will run through June 21. Opening night is scheduled for June 6. Performances will take place Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m., with Sunday matinees at 2 p.m.
On Sunday, June 14, NPAN and Bag&Baggage will partner with FLIP Museum to present “Family Afternoon Out,” offering Indigenous-themed activities for children ages 4–10. “We’ve partnered with local Native educators to develop programming that combines Native cultures with STEAM learning for kids up to age 10,” said FLIP Museum executive director Jack Graham. “Kids will learn about first foods and how seasonality impacted the way of life for the peoples who lived on the land where our children’s museum is now located.”
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