For The People A World Premiere Comedy a First Written by Native Playwrights About Native People to Appear as a Guthrie Mainstage

One of the great things about a theater like the Guthrie is that they have resources that nearly every other theater in town doesn’t. It pays off when they use those resources to commission and produce a work such as For the People. Commissioning Ty Defoe and Larissa FastHorse to create a work that tells a story about the Twin Cities Native community shepherding it from 2019 through its debut on the McGuire Proscenium Stage in 2023. For the People plays as if it comes from the people and in a way it does. The playwrights held story circles in 2019 and 2020 talking with members of the local Native Communities and the stories that were shared began to craft their script. Not only have they created a work by and about Native people, but the creative talent on stage and behind the scenes identify as Native. This speaks to representation and not just in the sense of not whitewashing the cast, but in allowing Native artists to contribute to the story of their people in their chosen fields such as Costume Designer Lux Haac and Lighting Designer Emma Deane. To me, this speaks to the Guthrie’s intent to really move beyond the land acknowledgement statement and take things to the next level beyond by taking action, providing an outlet for their voices and their art. The best part of all of this? It’s a really funny show.

April Dakota has well-meaning but misguided dreams of opening a Wellness Center on Franklin Avenue to serve the Indigenous Community in her Minneapolis hometown. She’s counting on a grant from the Franklin Avenue Task Force — a group of endearing Native elders and leaders — to make it happen. But her presentation goes sideways and her proposal is rejected, forcing her to make a decision that puts her dream, the community, and her culture at risk. Thankfully, the Task Force pulls together to help April fight for the future of Franklin Avenue and the people who call it home.

From The Guthrie Theater plot synopsis at http://www.guthrietheater.org

The cast of eight contains seven Native actors and one non-Native. Katie Anvil Rich plays April, the character has been away for a while and has now come home to try and make a business for herself. Rich does a nice job of portraying the sense that she has become something of an outsider, her assimilation is perhaps a little more apparent than she would like and she is finding it easy to offend and ruffle feathers with the elders and council leaders. Rich subtly allows us to see her frequent wincing and unease as she senses another misspoken word, another misstep, as she tries to woo the Council. Adrienne Zimiga-January as Commissioner Bobbie Grey has just the write combination of exasperation with the council members who have trouble staying on task and wariness of what the real motivations are of some of the characters. The elders on the council are played by film and stage star Wes Studi, the first Native American Actor to receive an Academy Award, and Sheri Foster Blake. Studi plays Herb O’Geezhik and Blake plays Daisy Childs, the two are wonderful together playing off each other like an old married couple, which if I followed the dialogue correctly, they once were. They provide a lot of the comedic relief, just by the virtue of being older and wiser and being able to push everyone’s buttons. Studi has a wonderfully written scene where he basically filibusters his way through an entire City Council meeting. The villain of the piece takes the form of Esme Williams, the rich daughter of a developer who befriends April with plans to invest and eventually take over the Wellness Center and surrounding areas, is played by Kendall Kent. Listeners of the Podcast Twin Cities Theater Chat may remember her name coming up in the episode on Understudies, where I commented on her fantastic performance after joining the cast during tech week in Our Town at Lyric Arts. She does a nice job here playing the instant BFF to April and seemingly good hearted savior and collaborator, and also the designing and business savvy entrepreneur.

The show is directed by Michael John Garces who, as I’ve learned, was walking the actors through script changes throughout the preview week. He does a good job staging the scenes giving each actor some space to create little moments of character work. One of the best moments is Studi’s filibuster scene, Garces doesn’t show us the entire meeting obviously, he finds a really clear and entertaining way to show us the passage of time. The Scenic Design by Tanya Orellana is fantastic and full of surprises which I will not give away, but there were two separate moments when something happens with the set that caught me totally off guard and they are brilliantly executed. The set also features two murals by Artists Marlena Myles and Thomasina TopBear that give the Wellness Center set such a beautiful look. The lighting design by Emma Deane is very effective in keeping things secret until they are revealed, and creating mood and atmosphere, particularly during a storm, which also features some good cues from Sound Designer Victor Zupanc.

Four the People runs through November 12th at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. For more information about the show and to purchase tickets go to https://www.guthrietheater.org/shows-and-tickets/2023-2024-season/for-the-people/

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