Pieces of Us: How the Lost Find Home
by William S. Yellow Robe, Jr. (Assiniboine)
produced in association with Red Eagle Soaring

Performance Days & Times:
Thursdays - Saturdays; July 23, 24, 25, 30, 31, Aug 1 (7:30pm)

Location: Rainier Valley Cultural Center, 3515 S. Alaska St., Seattle, WA 98118
Tickets: $7 Students & Seniors, $10 Adults
Information & Reservations: (206) 725-7169

Rainier Valley Youth Theatre, a program of SEEDArts, provides truly unique summer theatre training and production for Seattle youth, working with professional Seattle artists. RVYT productions are unique in the Seattle youth theatre landscape, usually featuring local, national or world premieres of original work by prominent playwrights.

In 2009, we partner with Red Eagle Soaring Native American Youth Theatre to present the NW Premiere of Pieces of Us: How the Lost Find Home, a contemporary, abstract play by our country’s foremost Native American playwright, William S. Yellow Robe, Jr. (Assiniboine). Oskar Eustis, the artistic director of the Public Theater, writes: "Bill Yellow Robe's voice is funny, honest, and searing. He tells painful truths that are designed to heal, and healing truths that are hard to hear. He writes from an utterly specific Native world, one we all need to know, but he uncovers human truths that are universal and profound. He is one of our necessary writers. We would be much poorer without him."

Pieces of Us: How the Lost Find Home is an intensely contemporary theatre piece that explores Native identity and mixed heritage through the psychological journey of main character Adam. Encouraged by close conversations with the author, RVYT sets the play in our own Seattle home, envisioning Adam as a member of a Coast Salish tribe. Through wry, sharp interactions with groups including the Chorus of Academia and Chorus of Governance, as well as lost family members and the Trickster himself, this poignant play casts a sharp look at the institutions, people, and legacies that help and hamper a Native reclaiming his heritage.

The all-teen cast has rehearsed for six weeks to present this challenging work, which also features video and multi-media projection art by Native Lens and Longhouse Media. Cast members include Jacob Braxton, Birdie Stahr, and Dallas Pinkham of Red Eagle Soaring, as well as many other Rainier Valley youth. The artistic staff includes costumer Francisca Garcia, scenic designer Cooper Lanza, choreographer Danny Long, director Tyrone Brown, advisor Martha Brice of Red Eagle Soaring, and producer Maria Glanz. Performances run July 23 – August 1.

Rainier Valley Youth Theatre is a program of SouthEast Effective Development (SEED). RVYT and the Rainier Valley Cultural Center are supported by the contributions from the Washington State Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, 4Culture. SummerSTAGE 2009 is supported by the Beth Jean Schneider Memorial Scholarship Fund.