Photos: First Look at The 1491's BETWEEN TWO KNEES at Perelman Performing Arts Center

The Perelman Performing Arts Center will present the NY premiere of The 1491’s comedy Between Two Knees, directed by Eric Ting, at the new performing arts center at the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan which opens Tuesday, February 13. Between Two Knees is an Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Yale Repertory Theatre production.

Get a first look at photos below!

Tickets for Between Two Knees begin at $29 and the production is offering members of the Native and Indigenous community, free tickets for the entire run ofBetween Two Knees. 

The company features Rachel Crowl, Derek Garza, Justin Gauthier, Shyla Lefner, Wotko Long, James Ryen, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, Sheila Tousey.  The understudy company includes Irma-Estel Laguerre, Jessica Ranville, John Scott-Richardson, Kholan Studi, Ryan Anthony Williams.

Between Two Knees began performances on Saturday, February 3 and opens officially, on Tuesday, February 13.  This is a limited engagement through Saturday, February 24, 2024.

Between Two Knees is an outrageously funny ride through American history by the acclaimed intertribal sketch comedy troupe The 1491s (Reservation Dogs andRutherford Falls). 

Coming to PAC NYC following runs at Oregon Shakespeare Festival - where it was commissioned and premiered, Yale Repertory Theatre, McCarter Theater and Seattle Rep, this play centers on one family’s story of love, loss, and resilience spanning the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee, forced re-education at Indian boarding schools, World War II, the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam and the American Indian Movement occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973. 

Directed by Obie Award winner Eric Ting and infused with the 1491s’ boldly uninhibited comedy, this New York City premiere takes a hard look at the effects of systemic oppression long after our textbooks typically stop teaching Native history.   Also, it’s funny.

 The creative team includes Ty Defoe (Choreographer), Regina García (Scenic Design), Lux Haac (Costume Design), Elizabeth Harper (Lighting Design), Jake Rodriguez (Sound Design), Shawn Duan (Projection Design), Younghawk Bautista (Wig & Hair Design), Rod Kinter (Fight Director), Julie Felise Dubiner(Dramaturg), Tanis Parenteau & Stephanie Yankwitt, CSA tbd casting co. (Additional Casting), Amanda Nita Luke-Sayed (Production Stage Manager).

 Content advisory:  Between Two Knees contains depictions and graphic details of violence against Native peoples including war, genocide and massacres; depictions of death and gun-related violence; depictions of Native American boarding schools; use of aggressive and stereotypical anti-Native rhetoric; pedophile priests; Nun-ja fights; country line dancing, ballet, hip hop, traditional powwow; Vaudeville; prophecies; surprise revelations; loud rapping; 31 wigs; over 300 props; Disney princesses; mime wolves; a bison; a rapture; and a really big explosion.

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