Bird House

Our next two Retreat and Festival plays may sound familiar to Native Voices patrons. Playwright Diane Glancy is a long- time friend of Native Voices and we're proud to begin a new journey with her as we continue to develop her latest play, The Bird House. This play was featured during our 2010 First Look Series with Stephan Wolfert and Bryan Davidson at the helm. For the 2011 Retreat and Festival, direction will be led by Robert Caisley with dramaturgy by Shirley Fishman.

Diane Glancy, Playwright

Diane Glancy (Cherokee) is professor emeritus at Macalester College. She lives in Shawnee Mission, Kansas. Native Voices has produced three of her plays, Jump Kiss, Stone Heart, and Salvage. In 2010, she made an independent film, The Dome of Heaven, which won the Native American Film Award at the Trail Dance Film Festival in Duncan, Oklahoma. A new collection of essays, The Dream of a Broken Field, is forthcoming in 2011 from the University of Nebraska Press. In 2010, Mammoth Publishers in Lawrence, Kansas, published her latest collection of poems, Stories of the Driven World. Her novels include The Reason for Crows, the story of Kateri Tekakwitha, a 17th century Mohawk converted to Christianity by the Jesuits; Pushing the Bear, a story about the 1838-39 Cherokee Trail of Tears.

Robert Caisley, Director

Rob Caisley will be pulling double duty during this year's Retreat and Festival. In addition to directing Bird House, he will be serving as dramaturg for Susie Silook's play Ungipamsuuka (My Story). For information on Rob, please click here.

Shirley Fishman, Dramaturg

Shirley Fishman is the Director of Play Development at La Jolla Playhouse where she oversees commissions and projects in development. Dramaturgy credits at Native Voices: Wings of the Night Sky by Joy Harjo; Fancy Dancer by Dawn Dumont. At the Playhouse: John Leguizamo's Diary of a Madman, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Night Watcher, 33 Variations, Zorro in Hell, The Wiz, among others. At The Public Theater: Jessica Hagedorn's Dogeaters; Two Sisters and a Piano by Nilo Cruz; Tina Landau's Space; Arthur Miller's The Ride Down Mt. Morgan; Tony Kushner's A Dybbuk: Or Between Two Worlds; David Henry Hwang's Golden Child; readings, workshops and co-curator of New Work Now! Festival. Also Sundance Theatre Lab (I Am My Own Wife; 36 Views; and The Laramie Project), Ojai Playwrights Festival, UC San Diego Baldwin Festival, USC Under Construction New Play Festival. M.F.A. Columbia University. Member LMDA.  

The Bird House will be presented at La Jolla Playhouse on Saturday, June 4 and at the Autry National Center on Saturday, June 18 at 1:00p. For tickets, please click here.