Review Roundup: INDIAN PRINCESSES Opens at Atlantic Theater Company

The reviews are in for Atlantic Theater Company's Off-Broadway premiere of Indian Princesses, written by Eliana Theologides Rodriguez and directed by Miranda Cornell. Indian Princesses began performances on Thursday, April 30th at the Linda Gross Theater, and will continue for a limited engagement through Sunday, June 7th.

The cast features Ben Beckley, Anissa Marie Griego, Rebecca Jimenez, Greg Keller, Serenity Mariana, Pete Simpson, Lark White, Haley Wong, Frank Wood.

In the summer of 2008, five young girls of color and their white fathers attend a program designed to bond families through handmade activities, camp-like adventures, and a heavy dose of cultural appropriation. But where can these girls turn when the program sparks questions that their fathers are unable – or unwilling – to answer? Inspired by the playwright's experiences in a father-daughter program of the same name, Indian Princesses is a tender satire that explores the stories we tell, the histories we omit, and the truths that live inside us, waiting to come out.

Indian Princesses features sets by Emmie Finckel, costumes by Sarafina Bush, lights by Mextly Couzin, sound by Salvador Zamora, casting by The Telsey Office: Karyn Casl, CSA and Stephanie Yankwitt, CSA. Andie Burns will serve as the Production Stage Manager. 

Read the reviews below!

Amelia Merrill, New York Theatre Guide: Indian Princesses presents a new spin on the trend of girlhood plays by allowing the adults their own interiority. While the fathers of the Spirit Squirrels sometimes provide comic relief, they also go on their own journeys of self-reflection. Not every journey feels earned, but Beckley’s delivery of a heartbreaking monologue about his daughter’s quiet pain provides a moment of hope and healing.

Thom Geier, Culture Sauce: Indian Princesses works best when the girls are interacting with each other. Growing up in a place where they don’t see many others like themselves, including within their own homes, they find a kind of sisterhood in shared outsiderness. It helps that the cast capture both preteen preococity, casual cruelty, and the impulse for reconciliation. And Rodriguez is generous enough to respect her characters’ individuality — particularly the grown-ups who often turn a blind eye to their daughters’ needs, sometimes unwittingly and with the best of intentions. Not all blundering fathers are built the same, or inflict the same kind of psychological damage.

Howard Miller, Talkin' Broadway: Indian Princesses meanders a bit too much among its three threads (i.e. a satirical lashing out at cultural appropriation, the cluelessness of the father figures, and the tight relationship that develops among the multiracial, multiethnic girls), but it is nonetheless a compelling tale, both of a messy present and a hopeful future.

Average Rating: 66.7%