Groundwater Arts Announces CELEBRATING NATIVE JOY

Groundwater Arts announced today that it will produce a community-centered weekend called Celebrating Native Joy in June 2022 in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. The weekend will feature performances of three new plays by Seminole/Mvskoke playwright and Groundwater Arts co-founder Tara Moses, a pop-up arts and food market, and performances of new plays developed with local, Native youth in the richly robust Lakota territory.

Groundwater is thrilled to share that Kenny Ramos (Barona Band of Mission Indians / Kumeyaay Nation), Kholan Studi (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma), Erin Tripp (Tlingit), Maria Hendricks (Mashpee Wampanoag, and Chingwe Sullivan (Montaukett and Shinnecock Nations of Long Island) have already joined the project. The full casting and featured vendors will be announced soon.

Lead funding for the project comes from the Native Arts Ecology Building Grant by First Peoples Fund, and Groundwater Arts today launched a public fundraising campaign. Crystal Wabnum, Regional Program Manager of Community Development at First Peoples Fund commented, "This partnership comes at a special time for First Peoples Fund as well as the Oglala Lakota Artspace (OLA). We are beyond jazzed to have Groundwater Arts on-the-ground bringing Celebrating Native Joy to life! The enthusiasm Groundwater Arts brings to their work is the good energy we strive to support."

The three new plays, ARBEKA, SNAG, and BILLIE, form part of a larger ambitious seven-play project for Moses: The Oklahoma Cycle. Speaking about the significance of the project, Tara says, "The severe inequity in the theatre for Native peoples is astounding. We are shut out of opportunities like training programs and season planning, and most of the plays these theaters produce are ones about our trauma or are to educate non-Natives. I wanted to create a large body of work that is about us, for us, and center our joy." ARBEKA received initial developmental support from the First Peoples Fund and was selected for the annual playwright's retreat with Native Voices at the Autry for further development. SNAG was commissioned by AlterTheatre Ensemble and has been adapted into a film with AlterTheatre that will be available to stream later this year. And BILLIE had its first workshop produced by Groundwater Arts at the REACH at the Kennedy Center in April 2022.

"When we founded Groundwater Arts in 2018, one of our dreams was to be able to say 'yes' to the kinds of projects that others might think are impossible," say Groundwater Arts co-founders Annalisa Dias and Anna Lathrop. "When Tara first spoke about her vision for a seven-play cycle, we immediately asked her 'where do we start?' We're thrilled to support Tara in the development of her ambitious new works, and after what we've all been through over the last two years, what better way to begin than Tara's vision for a weekend celebrating and centering Native joy!"

More about the plays:

ARBEKA

Loretta Cloud, the family's matriarch invites the audience in for a story about her family during one weekend at the Arbeka ceremonial grounds. Her screenwriter niece, Hokte Tiger has been away for over a decade, and she is finally coming back home. After a tragedy last summer and a professional mistake made by Hokte, there's healing to be done.

SNAG

In the summer of 1978 in Wewoka, OK, Loretta Cloud is working on finishing her nursing degree, and Pancake is joining national movements for Native rights (and robbing the occasional gas station on the side). They have an undeniable spark - a spark Loretta's brother Joe is determined will not ignite. However, the biggest threat to their budding relationship isn't Joe.

BILLIE

Billie is a dual love story set in modern times and the 1950s with a granddaughter and her grandmother. Paralleling the tragic story of Billie Cloud and Charles Tiger is the coming-of-age love story of Billie Cloud-Harjo and Vanessa Leon.

Creative Team

Tara Moses - playwright, director, Groundwater Arts producer

Annalisa Dias - Groundwater Arts, producer

estrellita beatriz - production manager

The full team will be announced soon!