Serenity Mariana, Haley Wong, Lark White, Anissa Marie Griego, and Rebecca Jimenez in Indian Princesses. Photo: Ahron R. Foster
Preteen girls of color playing at being Native Americans in a YMCA program, accompanied by their white fathers? If that sounds cringe-inducing, indeed it is. That’s the point of the alternately lacerating and deeply moving satire by newcomer Eliana Theologides Rodriguez. If our culture wants to apologize for its treatment of Native Americans and celebrate their heritage, the play says, we should find a better-informed way.
Indian Princesses features five girls of various racial and ethnic identities, participating in a program at a YMCA in an unnamed midwestern town in 2008. (Yes, this program and its controversial title really existed.) Its purpose: to offer Native-themed activities and strengthen father-daughter bonding. In the playwright’s reimagining of her own personal experience, Glen, a local granddad (Frank Wood), has created “a new “YMCA-sanctioned tribe” called the Spirit Squirrels, consisting of girls of color and their white dads. Participants include “Chief Glen” and his granddaughter, Samantha (age 9, part Asian); Mac and his daughter, Andi, (age 12, half Mexican); Wayne and his adopted daughter, Maisey (age 10, black); and Chris and his stepdaughters, Lily (age 11), and Hazel (age 9), of Yaqui and Tewa descent. “Wow! Two real-life Indian Princesses,” Chief Glen exclaims. “I actually don’t know if this has ever happened in the history of the program!”
Under Chief Glen’s enthusiastic leadership, they play games with a traditional “storytelling stick” and compose chants, while the dads look on awkwardly. Chief Glen offers them a garbled, simplistic version of American history since 1492, when the “white traveler” arrived and joined with “the Indian man” so that “all their little girls could be Indian princesses—Oop! Native American princesses.” He also initiates discussions about racism, though these are equally fraught with stereotypes and cliches. As Chief Glen reassures them: “The moral of the story is the moral of the story. As long as you have Jesus in your heart, you can never truly be racist.” In short, these discussions are hilarious…and painful.
Scenes of group activities alternate with scenes featuring the girls alone, as they struggle to understand their own identities. Lily (Anissa Marie Griego) dreams of playing Penny in Hairspray, but she’s afraid she won’t be cast because she’s not white, so she’s depressed and in therapy. Maisey (Lark White) lives in a fantasy world where she was descended from a wizard and a demigoddess. Samantha (Haley Wong) punishes herself for “thinking sinful thoughts.” They also try to understand each other’s identities. “You’re Mexican, right?” Samantha asks Andi (Rebecca Jimenez). “That’s why your arm is hairy?” And no one will explain how black people arrived in America, no matter how many times Maisey asks.
There are also awkward scenes with the fathers alone, too, as they attempt to bond. Chris (Greg Keller, the most “woke” dad) is earnestly studying “transracial parenting.” Mac (Pete Simpson) has trouble talking about the recent loss of his wife. Wayne (Ben Beckley) is ashamed that he’s looking for a new job. Their one commonality: a love for their daughters and a commitment to protect them.
The most touching scenes are the brief father-daughter duets. As Wayne tells Maisey: “When your mom and I look at you, we don’t see black, or white or purple. We just see our daughter.” Says Mac to Andi: “You’re a human. I’m a human. Past is the past.”
The big challenge comes when the Spirit Squirrels participate in Camp Catori, a weekend of activities along with other tribes in the county including their rivals, the “Buffalo Besties.” The main event is the talent show, for which Chief Glan has written “America The Beautiful The Play.” Performed by the girls and their fathers, it’s a ridiculous mishmash of cliches about America (featuring conquistadors and Wayne as Abraham Lincoln), with songs to the tunes of “Kumbaya” and “This Land Is Your Land.” But it dissolves into gibberish, chaos, and conflict among the cast. “The play. This program—it’s erasing entire histories, their histories,” laments Chris.
The girls flee after the play’s denouement. Alone in the woods at night, they bond in a new level of understanding and acceptance, in this moving piece about coming of age in a confusing world.
Kudos to the ensemble of five actresses who play characters less than half their age. Their physicality and irrepressible spirit infuse this play with vitality and humor. At the same time, their genuine quest to understand themselves and each other is deeply touching.
Ultimately, this playwright knows whereof she writes. She herself is of Yaqui and Tewa descent and participated in the Indian Princess Program with her father and sister when she was ten. Her experience—which she describes as inspiring “pain, confusion and disempowerment”—brings authenticity and urgency to this play. Meanwhile, Rodriguez has faced criticism for the play’s title, which of course is not her own creation. Accordingly, she has responded in the program notes, saying: “This country stole our heritage from us, then bastardized, stylized, and sold that heritage back to us generations later as a ‘culturally appreciative’ family bonding activity.”
How encouraging it is that there are new voices in the American theatre–like Rodriguez and Larissa Fasthorse (The Thanksgiving Play) who are pointing out that we have a lot of work to do in honoring Native American heritage.