Teaching Disco Squaredancing to Our Elders: A Class Presentation
by Larissa FastHorse
- Characters
- Kenny Two Hawks: 14, Lakota. The wise cracking ringleader and Martin’s best friend. Although about to fail out of school, his nonchalance covers his fears.
- Martin Leads to Water: 14, Lakota. The side kick who wants to be something more, but is afraid of losing what little he has.
- Amanda Smith: 14, half Dakota, half white. The awkward girl that everyone picks on, even if they aren’t sure why, who desperately wants to belong somewhere.
- Grandama Two Hawks: 63, Lakota. The cool grandma who is an elder, but certainly not elderly.
- Setting
- Winner, SD: A small border town near the Rosebud Sioux Reservation. Present day, end of the school year.
- Summary
- When Kenny and Martin draw bizarre topics for a school project, they decide to combine them into “Teaching Disco Squaredancing.” The delicate balance of their friendship is tested when they enlist the aid of Kenny’s Grandma and Amanda, a shy outcast whose presentation topic is on their cultural history, Lakota. But when you’re adopted, what culture is yours? Can they work together to finish the project and graduate from middle school or will serious problems at home and first love tear them apart?
- Note on Production: This play is a musical of ideas. Although it is not a musical in the traditional singing and dancing sense, the flow and use of the music through the piece should be explored like a musical with transitions that blend and ti the scenes together.
- Production history
- A Native Voices at the Autry World Premier, February 8-March 2, 2008
Directed by Jose Cruz Gonzalez
Executive Producers: Randy Reinholz (Choctaw) and Jean Bruce Scott
Synopsis written by the author.
