The staged reading was a rousing success.

With a cast made up from our youth and adult actors along with several actors cast at the Festival, "Tiospei" (written by Diane Way, Ableza's Artistic Director, and staged by guest director Buddy Butler) was read at the Adams Mark Hotel in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Tiospei is a Lakota word meaning "extended family."

We had a packed house, and a good response. "Tiospei" deals with the forced removal of Native American youth to Mission and Boarding Schools around the turn of the century, and the first meeting of Plains American Indians and Africans and African Americans at the Hampton Institute. It describes life at the Indian Boarding Schools in the late 19th century.

The cast was wonderful...

even serving as last-minute fill-ins for reading another script we had not seen...

Garland Lee Thompson Jr. and Sr.

Garland Senior (Cherokee) is the Executive Director of Frank Silvera's Writers Workshop, NYC. He and Garland Junior organized the staged reading series at the Festival. Garland Jr.'s new show, "Swingin' from the Vine," is now available for booking after playing in Hollywood and around California.

Here's the whole gang after the reading.

We were honored to have Ray Little Turtle and his father, Spotted Turtle, say prayers for us and open the performance with their drum.

For more information about Tiospei, please contact the author, Diane Way.

BACK