MANGLED BEAMS Looks At Native American Iron Workers Who Cleared Debris On 9/11

American Indian Artists Inc. (AMERINDA) will present the World Premiere of MANGLED BEAMS by Dawn Jamieson. Directed by Christen Omantra Callahan, previews begin on April 13 at the Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre at The A.R.T./New York Theatres. Opening night is slated for Thursday, April 19.

MANGLED BEAMS opens on the morning of September 11, 2001. At an Iron Workers Union Hall, four men wait to be assigned work. Then the unimaginable happens. Unable to turn their backs on the tragedy, they go to work on the search and rescue effort at Ground Zero. While untangling the beams their Native American fathers and grandfathers once helped to put in place, they reclaim their identity and find personal redemption.

Casting will be announced shortly. The production team includes. Dedalus Wainwright (set and props), Elijah J. Schreiner (lighting), Z Worthington (sound), Jonathan Hicks (fight director), and Patricia Golden (production manager/technical director).

Plays by Dawn Jamieson, which include Silent Quest, Crooked Paths and Mush Hole, have been given readings and workshops by The Public Theater's New Work Now! Series, American Indian Community House, Autry's Native Voices and Lark Play Development Center. She is currently working on a screenplay adaptation of Mangled Beams. As a performer, she has acted on Broadway (Inherit the Wind with Charles Durning and George C. Scott; Arthur Miller's The Price with Eli Wallach) and in many Off-Off Broadway venues as well as appearing in several films - most recently Deadbeat. She is one of the founding members of a weekly playwriting group called Times Square Playwrights (www.timessquareplaywrights.org). Jamison is of Cayuga-Iroquois heritage.

Christen Omantra Callahan is an emerging and award-winning New York City director and producer. She has served as the Resident Director of Enigma and Artistic Director of Next Generation with the Midtown International Theatre Festival. Recent directing credits include A Visit From Breienberg at Elektra Theatre, Parking Lot 63 at Husdon Guild Theatre, Rumple Who at 13th Street Rep, and Tellin' Man at Abingdon.

Established in 1987, American Indian Artists Inc. (AMERINDA) is a community-based multi-arts organization that works to empower Native Americans and foster intercultural understanding of Native culture. Located in New York, AMERINDA is the only Native American multi-arts organization of its kind in the U.S., and has been widely recognized for its artistic and cultural integrity. AMERINDA Theater produces staged readings and full productions of new plays by Native American Playwrights. In addition to continuing this vital work, AMERINDA launched the first-ever Native Shakespeare Ensemble in 2015 with Macbeth. The ensemble focuses on full productions that re-imagine the original classical text. www.amerinda.org

MANGLED BEAMS runs April 13 - 29; Tuesday - Friday at 7:30pm and Saturday - Sunday at 2pm & 7:30pm. (Please note: no matinees April 14 or 15 and no 7:30pm show on April 29). The Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre at The A.R.T./New York Theatres is located at 502 West 53rd Street (off 10th Avenue). Tickets are $20 / $15 for seniors and students at mangledbeams.brownpapertickets.com.