Inside a World Premiere Play: Larissa FastHorse and Burgandi Trejo Phoenix on Bringing FANCY DANCER to Life

Seattle Rep sat down with playwright Larissa FastHorse and actor Burgandi Trejo Phoenix—who alternate starring in the role of Lara in Fancy Dancer—to chat about working on world premieres, telling your own story, and the importance of community and intergenerational experiences.

Seattle Rep: What inspired you to write this play?

Larissa FastHorse: My very first play as a playwright (Average Family) was commissioned and directed by Peter Brosius at the Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis. On opening night, he asked me what my journey was to become a ballet dancer. As soon as I finished my story, he said, “I am commissioning that play”—and he did.

Many, many years later, we are here at Seattle Rep. The play has gone through so many versions—from a huge 50-person piece down to what we have now, a one-person show honed by Chay Yew, who has spent about half of his directing career working on one-person shows. So not only is Chay a good friend that I'm thrilled to work with, but he's someone who really knows that genre incredibly well.

SR: You didn't originally plan to perform this show yourself. What made you want to take the stage as a performer in this autobiographical piece?

LF: It's so scary to do this piece in front of people. It's really not something I planned to do at all! I very intentionally wrote the piece for other actors, and I had other actors that I knew in mind for it. However, after we did our last workshop almost a year ago here in Seattle, I realized—with encouragement from Chay and the teams at Seattle Children’s Theatre [(SCT)] and Seattle Rep—that I might regret not performing this piece myself for its world premiere. I realized that I needed to really live the piece so I know it's as strong as it can be.

I also personally went through a really difficult time during COVID being a caretaker for several family members, not all of whom made it. My family has been incredibly supportive and said, look, you need to go do something selfish for a while and just take care of you. So it's really a weird joy for me to be here in Seattle and just worry about things like warming up and cooling down and making a salad and not worry about the real life-and-death struggles that so many of us faced during these past few years.

SR: As a multi-hyphenate artist—playwright, choreographer, actor, professor at Arizona State University (ASU), and more—how has your dance background informed your many artistic roles and professions?

LF: I always tell people that you can see in my writing that I'm a dancer. I mean, it's obvious when you're performing or choreographing, but if you look at my plays, they all rely on large scenes of movement often without any text at all. For instance, if you look at The Thanksgiving Play (first developed and produced by [Seattle Rep Artistic Director] Dámaso Rodríguez at Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland), there are whole scenes that depend on movement and physical pictures on stage—that's my dance background. I have a scene like that, large and small, in every play I've ever written.

It is also a big part of how I approach working with young people at ASU and how I work as a playwright with people in the room. I'm very involved in the physicality of space, and how we relate to each other and how bodies exist in space and define space. I think I really see that as a full stage picture from a dancer's point of view, as opposed to a more internal picture from an actor’s point of view.

SR: With Fancy Dancer being a co-produced world premiere between Seattle Rep and SCT, we will be welcoming multigenerational audiences of all ages to this show. How do you think this story will resonate across generations?

LF: I come from a multi-generational culture. The Lakota people, we believe that families mean many generations and many ages all together in one space. There's no separation between immediate family and extended family. It's just not how we think. So to me, it's 100% natural to create a piece that allows that full family to come together.

I really hope that grandparents can come and see this show with their grandchildren to understand what they're going through in their lives. That parents can come and remember their past and what it took for them to get where they are now. That teenagers and young adults can really resonate with a journey they're probably still on of discovering themselves and figuring out where they fit in the world. And young people can look ahead to see what's to come for them and see (and perhaps appreciate) what the elders before them have gone through.

Creating spaces where multi-generational families can come together in one unit is, in my opinion, the most sacred space we can create. It's such a huge honor to be a part of this first co-production between Seattle Rep and SCT to bring these theater lovers of all ages together like this. It's really a dream come true! What’s being done here is something brave and exciting.

SR: Performing in repertory with Larissa in her autobiographical story is a unique experience. Burgandi, how have you approached this role as an actor?

Burgandi Trejo Phoenix: Lara’s story mirrors my own in many ways. I spent the majority of my childhood and much of my life until now feeling like I wasn’t enough. I was bullied, and I was disconnected from my Indigenous heritage. And I am a classically trained ballet dancer who, much like Lara, had my own physical ailments. As my teachers would say, I “didn’t have good feet" and have double jointed hips, which makes it incredibly difficult to train the muscle needed to hold my legs in the air for more than a few seconds at a time.

Larissa has this beautiful way of capturing each moment so vividly, and her writing always seems to immediately immerse me in the story she’s telling from page one. This allows me the freedom to create characters and find their unique voices, especially within a deep and meaningful story like this. It is both exciting and challenging and by no means easy, but it feels more like being a kid at play than it does grueling work. I am incredibly honored that Larissa has trusted me with her story and am grateful to have the opportunity to share the role of Lara with her.

SR: What is special or different about working on a new, world premiere play versus an existing piece of art?

BTP: Working on a world premiere is so much more exciting to me. Working on a new play, where you’re collaborating with so many talented creatives and crafting something in a world that has never existed on stage before, is exhilarating! And because it’s the first time the public is seeing it, there is a fresh perspective not only from the writer, director, cast, and crew, but from the audience who truly has no idea what to expect. There are endless possibilities in all aspects because the work is not being boxed in by the way(s) it’s been done in the past. It’s extremely fulfilling as a creative.

SR: What do you hope audiences take away from Fancy Dancer? Is there anything else you want audiences to know?

LF: I hope audiences come to this show and just enjoy being together. To me, that is the most exciting part of theater, just being in one space and sharing breath. Fancy Dancer is very much a storytelling piece, and storytelling doesn't happen alone. Storytelling is meant to happen between us—that's what I love about live theater.

I work in film and TV, but honestly, live theater is my favorite. I love it so much because it's that space between the stage and the audience that we both have to fill, and it's this breath and energy that's passing from human to human. Down the aisle and down the rows where you're thinking, why am I laughing at this and they're not? Why is that person crying and I'm not? Or why are we all crying or all laughing? Having that visceral, emotional human experience together, that's just not something that happens alone on your couch or walking down the street looking at your phone. Theater's the only place we get that. I love that more than anything.

Whatever you take from the story is great, and I hope you take a lot and learn a lot. I think it's a very specific story to me, but it's universal to the journey we all go through, growing up and figuring out who we are in the world. But most important to me is having that experience of theater where we get to come together and see each other.

BTP: I hope that everyone, but especially the little kids, understand that it’s ok to be different and weird and quirky and that it’s ok to not fit in—stand out instead! Never let anyone convince you that you are not enough. No one has the right to tell you who you are, except for you. Your identity and how you identify within your specific heritage and culture(s), or don’t, is for you to decide—there is not only one way to identify and everyone has a different journey. And anyone who tries to shame you for not being what they consider to be “right” or traditional, aren’t the kind people that you want in your life. Forge your own path, like Lara did. And although it may not be as easy, you will be better for it. Trust me.

Experience Fancy Dancer on Seattle Rep's Leo K. stage September 18 - November 2, 2025.