Desert Stories for Lost Girls by Lily Rushing

Katie Anvil Rich and Glenn Stanton - Photo by Grettel Cortes

 

By Joe Straw

 

Native Voice at the Autry, in association with the Latino Theater Company, presents the world premiere of Desert Stories for Lost Girls by Lily Rushing and directed by Sylvia Cervantes Blush through October 16, 2022.  

 

Desert Stories for Lost Girls is an exciting new play by Lily Rushing using an authentic 

Native American voice with a social movement that is undeniably different and one that 

offers a unique perspective of this life. The play leaves an indelible impression on an open 

heart.   

Carrie Black (Katie Anvil Rich) 18, bag in tow, arrives and is excited to take care of her grandmother Rosa Black (Carolyn Dunn), a woman aged into some form of dementia.  

 

Uncle Edgar (Tom Allard), Rosa’s son, a cantankerous man, has been taking care of Rosa and the only thing that has kept him sane was the herbal remedy only an arm’s length away.  He’s got everything sorted out, the pills are in the pill boxes, all ready to go.  But he warns Carrie to stay away from the back and the front yards. He then summarily scoots out the front door, unencumbered, and happy by the sudden elation of his personal freedom.  He closes the door and leaves Carrie to her own devices.  

 

Alone with her grandmother, who sits at a table working her arts and crafts, things start to go awry. Communication is difficult, grandmother won’t take her pills, and getting any type of narrative from her, of their history, is almost non-existent.

 

There is a story here, in this home, the family secrets, unrecoverable and stored away in a yellow suitcase. And this story includes an overseer, a woman affected with communication difficulties. Carrie doesn’t question why, perhaps she makes a mental note. But they move about, living life, not caring how they got to this point, or either caring how they will move beyond. It is perhaps up to the visions they all encounter but refuse to openly acknowledge to one another.  But in the here and now Carrie is just trying to figure out her life. Even though the girls are lost, past and present, there are pieces to be discovered, recognized, placed in a journal, and then eventually told because the result is the play we are seeing on this night.     

 

One leaves the theatre in a variety of moods and after seeing this production I had mixed 

emotions, and it was hard to understand where those feeling originated.  Perhaps it was the story 

and the affects of the long arm of colonization that has no end.   

There is that, and then there is technical feeling one gets when one pleads for a stronger 

theatrical perspective, movement, objective, and convincing choices that leads us to an 

understanding of where the participants are going.   

Lily Rushing, the writer, is a Genízaro Indian, or part of an indigenous people from various tribes that were enslaved and made to work for the Spanish Colonialists in the region that is now New Mexico.  We hear nothing of the term in this play. The play is based on her life and the life of her family. And it is through the revelation of the family that the play takes off giving us a clearer picture. But the struggle to fully grasp the story is hampered by the grandmother who communicates very little of her life and we were left to guess why these ghostly people suddenly appeared. While visually interesting, it is difficult to piece together the incoherent muttering of someone who has dementia, and how it has affected the granddaughter to act. Is the poetic yet fragmented words a puzzle for us or someone else to piece together? And is that someone else actively looking? Given the time restraints of smaller theatre there is more to be had in the offering.  

 

Sylvia Cervantes Blush, the director, must tie the elements from the present to the past. As it appears now, the characters from the past show up and they leave without leaving their mark on the present and vice versa.  Also, there are times we lose sight of the truth.  The grandma throws her pills away, and, if we can hear it in the back row of the theatre, why doesn’t Carrie hear it? And, why doesn’t she respond?   Also, the clue is the yellow suitcase. (La pista es la maleta amarilla.) It is the one thing that ties the play, past and present, into a cohesive whole and used effectively will make all the difference. One believes the suitcase is a symbol that will enhance the through line and make it much more dramatic.  

L - R Samantha Bowling, Brenda Banda, and Carolyn Dunn
L 
 

Despite my mutterings, the acting is uniformly good.  There are better choices to be made 

and stronger objective to be had. 

Katie Anvil Rich has her work cut out for her as Carrie Black.  First finding a truth in 

playing a teenager and then discovering who she is and where she is going. When the 

grandmother shouts “Who owns me?”, several times, that should be the alarm 

that moves her into action. 

Carolyn Dunn is Rosa Black the grandmother in a difficult role.  Locked in a land of 

dementia she must find a way to communicate one way or another and then perhaps to 

let us know her deepest thought when thinking of the past. We see little in her reflection 

of her early days when the light of knowledge should bathe her being.  

Tom Allard has his moments as Uncle Edgar. He is funny and seems to be having the 

time of his life. 

Rainbow Dickerson does well as the young Rosa leaving home with the one thing that 

she must keep on her journey to California, the yellow suitcase. 

Glenn Stanton is outstanding as Nicholas Jacinto, a Spanish man in a mask and a 

conquistador helmet, projecting the long reach of colonialism even after his untimely death, 

causing disruptions to others around him and visiting to keep his hold on the one thing he 

never wanted to let go. His physical life onstage is excellent. Stanton is also Joe Black 

who is in a hurry to take and keep what he wants. 

Brenda Banda is also excellent as Josefa Jacinto a woman who appears to have a noose 

around her neck reminding the present of her fate in life. Her work is good and solid. 

Samantha Bowling as Placida and has immeasurable strength.  She is the most sympathetic, 

beautiful, and enslaved. She is the beginning of the story, where it all started, and where this 

Genízaro tragedy begins to unfold. She is raped by her colonizer and is made to endure 

hardships that no one should endure. She comes back to make the record clear. 

Bowling has a strong presence on stage and is wonderful in the role. 

Understudies that did not perform the night I was there are Andrew Roa, Kholan Studi, 

and Jehnean Washington. 

The beautiful scenic and props design were made possible by Christopher Scott Murillo 

highlighting wind, earth, and home.

Other members of the crew are as follows: 

Dramaturg: Courtney Elkin Mohler

Lighting & Projection Design:  Derek Christiansen & Ruby O’Brien

Sound Design: Lorna Bowne

Production Stage Manager : Maricela Sahagun

Assistant Stage Manager: Martha Espinoza 

Run! 

Tickets: https://www.latinotheaterco.org/