Theater Review by Carol Rocamora . . . .
It takes a lot of nerve to turn one of the most horrific genocides in American history Into a satirical romp. And that’s what the intrepid theater company, The 1491s, has done . . . on steroids.
This irrepressible sketch comedy troupe—comprised of five actor/writers descended from various Indigenous tribes—has been touring the country with their special brand of satire, educating us about the tragic treatment of Native Americans, who once numbered in the millions, before the arrival of Christopher Columbus. And, unbelievably, they are making us laugh along the way.
Their current show is called Between Two Knees, crowning the inaugural season of the stunning new Perelman Performing Arts Center in Lower Manhattan. Commissioned by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival as part of their American Revolutions series (and co-produced with Yale Repertory Theatre Productions), it is an epic tale spanning a century—from December 29, 1890, when the US army killed 300 Lakota Tribe members at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in an effort to repress Plains Native Americans, to February 27, 1973, when a group called the AIM (American Indian Movement) staged a 71-day occupation of the same area to commemorate this terrible massacre (hence the play’s title, Between Two Knees).
“We’re gonna make this fun,” says Larry, the show’s narrator (Justin Gauthier), who introduces the play. “We gonna talk about war and genocide and PTSD and molestation. So it’s OK to laugh.” In a hilarious hybrid of stand-up, SNL, vaudeville, high school “class night,” and rap, the story is told by an eight-member ensemble. “How tough it was to cast this play,” Larry adds, telling us that the cast members are all descendants of Native Americans (apologizing that one actor is Asian). The inference is obvious. The actors play multiple variations of cartoonish Native American stereotypes created by white America over the centuries, as Larry points out. “It smells like wealth and guilt in this room,” Larry tells us. “But don’t worry, when you guys leave, you’re still gonna own everything.”
Yes, there is a plot—and an epic one. Between Two Knees tells the story of three generations of the Wolf family. The play begins with the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee and the birth of Isaiah (in one outrageously violent moment, his mother loses her arm, as is represented by a string of red ribbons extended from her body into the theater stalls). Isaiah (Derek Garza) is sent to a Catholic boarding school in his teen years, along with other Native American youth, to be converted into “white folks” by the priests and nuns. There he meets Irma (Shyla Lefner). Together, they escape (after a battle scene with scores of ferocious nuns, featuring spectacular projections by Shawn Duan). They cross the country, in their own words, “burning down boarding schools and churches and killing pedophile priests”
That antic energy persists throughout two and a half hours of entertainment—and painful enlightenment. (This endlessly creative production features a colorful cartoonish set design by Regina Garcia, costumes by Lux Haac, lighting by Elizabeth Harper, and sound by Jake Rodriguez). Written by members of The 1491s, and directed by Eric Ting, it is bursting with relentless irreverence and exuberance. There is a hilarious wedding ceremony (Isaiah and Irma marry) conducted by a hippie-style guru who “has reached the realm of non-race.” That’s followed by the “birthing ceremony” of their son William (featuring stuffed animals that look on the bathing of the baby with “white tears.”) Nothing is sacred—and that’s the point of The 1491s, as they push our genocidal history in our faces.
The story continues, as William (Shaun Taylor-Corbett) goes off to fight in WWII and is killed in action. While in the army, he fathers a son who gets left on his grandparents’ doorstep. Named “Eddie” (Garza again), he’s raised by his grandparents Isaiah and Irma and sent off to Viet Nam, where he dies (underscoring the outrages done to Native Americans who end up sacrificing their few remaining lives for the country that has exterminated them). And so on and so on, with more plot twists and turns, till the triumphant reunion of the Wolf family, featuring the older Isaiah (Wotko Long) and older Irma (Sheila Tousey)—and, yes, more grandchildren—singing “So Long, White People” (choreography by Ty Defoe).
In the enlightening program notes, dramaturg Julie Felise Dubiner points out that Between Two Knees is the kind of comedy “that takes back power that has been lost or stolen. It is a way of looking right into the eyes of the people who tried to kill you and laughing at them.” Like Jordan E Cooper’s irrepressible Ain’t No Mo’ on Broadway last year, which satirized the traumatic history of Black Americans in a series of sketch comedy vignettes, the members of The 1491s have once again shown us the unique power of comedy to instruct and expose as well as to entertain.
Bravo to these collaborative authors, whose names and tribes of origin merit recognition: Dallas Goldtooth (Mdewakanton Dakota-Dine); Sterlin Harjo (Seminole-Muscogee); Migizi Pensoneau (Ponca-Ojibwe); Ryan RedCorn (Osage Nation); and Bobby Wilson (Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota). And to Bill Rauch, former artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, who commissioned this work and who now helms the Perelman Arts Center. We laughed, we learned—in the way that only the theater can do.
Between Two Knees. Through February 24 at the Perelman Performing Arts Center (251 Fulton Street at Vesey Street, World Trade Center, Manhattan). www.pacnyc.org
Photos: Jeremy Daniel
