WICOUN
A new play with and about the Oceti Sakowin
Performances May 25 – June 16, 2023
Áya and their brother Khoskalaka have their hands full raising their siblings and cousins, dealing with zombies on the prowl, and trying to graduate high school. But after Áya, a Lakota teen, summons a traditional superhero in a moment of bravery, they have to embark on a journey across the lands of the Oceti Sakowin to find answers in the old stories, within themselves, and in Paha Sapa.
This new production is created with and for the interconnected, but widely dispersed residents of the Sicangu Lakota Nation (Rosebud), Oglala Lakota Nation (Pine Ridge), Ihanktonwan Dakota Oyate (Yankton), and other Lakota reservations, as well as Rapid City. Wicoun will perform in these and other South Dakota communities in late May and early June, 2023.
CONFIRMED PERFORMANCES
Thursday, 5/25 at 2pm
Black Hills Playhouse
24834 S Playhouse Rd
Custer, SD 57730
Friday, 5/26 at 6pm
Racing Magpie
801 East Saint Andrew St.
Rapid City, SD 57701
Saturday, 5/27 at 7pm
Main Street Square
512 Main St Suite 980
Rapid City, SD 57701
Tuesday, 5/30 at 5pm
Great Plains Crow Creek Office
225 Sam Boy Drive
Fort Thompson, SD 57339
Performance will be outdoors behind the Great Plains Crow Creek Office
Thursday, 6/1 at 7pm
Todd County Middle School
Adams Street / HWY 83, just south of Omaha St.
Mission, SD
Friday, 6/2 at 7pm
St Francis Indian School
502 Warrior Dr.
St Francis, SD 57572
Saturday, 6/3 at 5pm
Memorial Park Bandshell
301 N. 5th St.
Rapid City, SD 57701
Monday, 6/5 at 1pm
Red Shirt School
HCR 83 Box 313
Hermosa, SD 57744
Monday, 6/5 at 7pm
Little Wound School Auditorium
438 Main St
Kyle, SD 57752
Thursday, 6/8 at 6:30pm
Lakota Youth Development
30122 352nd Ave
Herrick, SD 57538
Saturday, 6/10 at 1pm
The Coliseum of Sioux Falls
515 N. Main Avenue
Sioux Falls, SD 57104
Monday, 6/12 at 7pm
Riverside Park Ampitheater
S Capitol and Levee St
Yankton, SD 57078
Thursday, 6/15 at 7pm
Steamboat Park Ampitheater
Popular Ave/W Missouri Ave
Pierre, SD 57501
Friday, 6/16 at 6:30pm
Cheyenne River Youth Project Art Park
101 East Lincoln Street
Eagle Butte, SD
ARE YOU ATTENDING A SHOW?
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TENTATIVE PERFORMANCES
We’re working with partners to solidify dates and times and in these locations, but are happy for new suggestions.
2 performances in Rosebud: Wednesday, May 31 through Thursday, June 1
1 performance in Pine Ridge: Tuesday, June 6
1 performance in Lake Andes: Friday, June 9
1 performance in Yankton: Monday, June 12
1 Ft. Yates: Wednesday, June 14
Wicoun is the third in a series of productions in collaboration with playwright Larissa FastHorse (Sicangu Lakota Nation) and Indigenous people of U.S. lands. Following Urban Rez with and about Native people of and/or living in the Los Angeles Basin, and Native Nation, a collaboration with those of and/or living in the Phoenix, Arizona area. This project, begun in 2019, builds on these two processes and explores the strength, beauty, humor, and perseverance of the Indigenous culture, language and identity of the Northern Plains.
Partner organizations include First Peoples Fund, Racing Magpie, Black Hills Playhouse, Black Hills Community Theatre, the City of Rapid City, Lakota Youth Development, and Lakota culture bearers.
Photo Journal
Below is a gallery of photos that have been taken over the course of five trips across South Dakota by the members of the team. This gallery does not come close to representing the full breadth of these trips, the six-dozen-plus engagements the teams have attended, the literal weeks upon weeks of work, but they can impart a small sense of what the process has been like so far.
Larissa FastHorse
Playwright
Sicangu Lakota Nation
http://www.hoganhorsestudio.com/about-larissa
Michael John Garcés
Director
Nephelie Andonyadis
Scenic Designer
https://www.nepheliemaria.com/
Lynn Jeffries
Puppet Designer
Talon Bazille Ducheneaux
Sound Designer
Cheyenne River Lakota/Crow Creek Dakota
https://www.firstpeoplesfund.org/talon-bazille-ducheneaux
Jeanette Godoy
Costume Designer
Kenny Ramos
Performer
Barona Band of Mission Indians / Kumeyaay Nation
Peter Howard
Performer
Clementine Bordeaux
Engagement Associate