The Path to Native Nation

Native Nation is a unique and immersive theatrical experience that pivots on community input, from developing the script all the way to the final production. Writing the script is Larissa FastHorse (Sicangu Lakota) with Michael John Garcés directing the production. In partnership between Los Angeles-based Cornerstone Theater Company and ASU Gammage for a Beyond Series performance, the final production of Native Nation will take place in April 2019.

For the past year, FastHorse and Garcés have been visiting communities in the Valley to meet with and hear from local Indigenous people and organizations. They have organized story circles both on and off ASU campus to hear from the community on the broad topic of, “What is it like to be Indigenous here in Phoenix?” From these visits, FastHorse reviewed over 90 pages of single-spaced notes and created the first draft of the script, with fictional stories incorporating pieces and themes from the community input. As of the late fall of 2018, they are in the process of receiving feedback from the community by sharing the first draft of the script. The upcoming Community Script readings are included below. Starting in this new year, Native Nation will be casting as well as looking for community members to help in all aspects of the play. There’s a space and place for everyone’s strength here!

I have have been working with Native Nation for a year. The project has helped to teach me more about my story and how that story relates to others. I have been able to see Larissa and Michael work together in sparking conversation and placing value on Indigenous voices by just listening. I witnessed and experienced this listening in a way that reinforced the power and value of self and community narrative. Through my eyes, I see Native Nation as a process. We aren’t just contributing to a single experience-- we are building and strengthening our community while doing it. This is so much more than the end product, as it moves far beyond standards and definitions of Indigenous peoples and stories that outside communities impose.

Native Nation is not only important and necessary, it is a platform that elevates our voices to be seen and heard. Your story matters, my story matters, our stories matter.

If you’d like to get involved or have questions about Native Nation, reach out to: Larissa FastHorse, Writer larissafasthorse@gmail.com Desiree Ong, ASU Gammage Program Manager Desiree Email: ong@asu.edu

NATIVE NATION

WRITTEN BY LARISSA FASTHORSE DIRECTED BY MICHAEL JOHN GARCES APRIL 27-28, 2019

STEELE INDIAN SCHOOL PARK

Community Script Readings

We would love to see you at our upcoming Community Script Readings: Monday, January 28, 2019: 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

ASU Center for Indian Education, Payne Hall Rm 301

Tuesday, January 29, 2019: 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Phoenix Indian School Visitor Center at Steele Indian School Park 200 E. Indian School Rd. Phoenix, AZ

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Starting from the Roots

by: Abigail Nez-Johnson

I like to say I got into my major in geography on accident. I was originally a journalism major with the intention of becoming a news reporter. I took a physical geography course for a science credit and realized that I was passionate about landforms, weather and land masses. Once I declared my major, my interests ignited in weather, plants, water and soil.

I became serious about gardening when I started taking plant courses in ASU’s Applied Biological Sciences program during my third year in January 2018. I particularly fell in love with being in the greenhouse for hours each week.

My passion for gardening also began to grow in my everyday life. In my free time, I found myself attending farmer’s markets, collecting seeds, visiting farms and growing plants in my apartment. I started reading books on plants, volunteering at gardens, and joined ASU Polytechnic’s Horticulture Club, which I found out is open to all majors.

Growing plants makes me feel closer to the people I love because it reminds me of my childhood. When I was a little girl, I would help my mother transplant flowers and at my paternal grandparents’ ranch in Utah, my late análí asdzáníígíí used to grow corn, squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, wheat and alfalfa hay for the cows. When I moved out of my childhood home, I craved the botanical life.

There is a cultural significance in growing the things I do. In February 2018, I began volunteering at Native Health Agave Farms where we learn about our ancestors and how important agriculture was to them for food and medicinal purposes. Agriculture is just as important then as it is today.

My life journey has brought me to the Caribbean Islands, specifically to an island country called St. Kitts and Nevis, which located in the West Indies and is where my husband attends medical school. Nevis is a tad smaller than the City of Tempe and is filled with luscious plants, monkeys in trees, roaming cattle and sheep, a stratovolcano, endless ocean, starry nights, tropical fruits and delicious food. Here I continue to propagate plants, care for succulents, and grow