Coast-to-Coast Readings Seek Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives

Details

By Native News Online Staff

February 24, 2026

Native Performing Arts Network (NPAN), a new national home dedicated to Indigenous stories, artists, and youth, is proud to announce the plays by Indigenous writers selected for its National Day of Theater Readings for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives (MMIWR). On May 5, 2026, theaters and universities nationwide will host staged readings, with additional events planned around that date, to raise awareness about the ongoing crisis of violence impacting Indigenous communities.

To date, 21 companies in 11 cities have committed to participate: Hillsboro, Ore.; the San Francisco Bay Area; Los Angeles; Palm Springs, Calif.; Flagstaff, Ariz.; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Minneapolis; Chicago; Boston; New York City; and Washington, D.C. More readings and updates will be shared on NPAN’s social media platforms and at nativeperformingarts.org.

The MMIWR crisis stems from multiple systemic issues, including the profound invisibility of Indigenous people in national media. Ninety-five percent of Indigenous women who go missing never receive national news coverage. By uniting across the country, theaters can use their platforms to confront that invisibility and elevate awareness.

“Native activists, who are usually family members of someone who’s gone missing, have been speaking out about this issue for decades,” said Jeanette Harrison, creative director of Native Performing Arts Network and coordinator of the National Day of Theater Readings for MMIWR. “Hopefully, this action by theaters across the country will amplify their work and inspire action and change.” A study funded by the National Institute of Justice found that murder rates for Native women are as much as 10 times higher than the national average. “People may not be aware of the ways in which resource extraction, mining, and violence against Native people are linked. The fight of climate activists intersects with the need for safer communities. And that’s just one example,” Harrison continued. “All these plays address different aspects of the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives.”

In New York City, the Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) will present a staged reading of Blossom Johnson’s monster SLAYer. “PAC NYC is honored to present a reading of Blossom Johnson’s monster SLAYer, whose mythic approach to loss holds space for grief, care, humor, and resilience, on a day recognizing Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives," said Bill Rauch, PAC NYC Artistic Director.

Also in New York, Eagle Project will stage a reading of Vickie Ramirez’s YUCHEWAHKENH (Bitter) in partnership with a local university.

In Minneapolis, two plays will be presented at the Guthrie Theater. Mni Giizhik Theatre Ensemble, hosted by the Guthrie’s Native Advisory Council, will stage a reading of Say Their Names by Marcie Rendon, an award-winning author known for the Cash Blackbear murder mystery series. “Say Their Names by Marcie Rendon is a powerful play that bears witness to the ongoing crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit relatives,” said Sequoia Hauck, one of three members of Mni Giizhik’s collaborative leadership team. “Rooted in Indigenous history and lived experience, the play unfolds as both testimony and ceremony, weaving poetry, memory, and the deliberate speaking of names into an act of collective remembrance. Through the intimate exchange between its two characters, Rendon transforms lists of names into living presence, honoring those taken, affirming those who remain, and insisting on accountability. Say Their Names is not only a work of theatre, but a ceremonial invocation: a reminder that remembering is an act of resistance, that speaking names restores dignity, and that these relatives are not statistics; they are loved, known, and never forgotten.”

The Guthrie will also become the second theater to produce a reading of DeLanna Studi’s I is for Invisible, a finalist for the 2026 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. “Theatre artists have a powerful tool to use for awareness and community-building around the brutalization of our Native and Indigenous relatives through participation in this work,” said Amanda White, Director of Education and Engagement at the Guthrie. “Lifting up our neighbors is the only way forward in this brutal moment in the Twin Cities, home to one of the largest urban Native populations in the US." In addition to Minneapolis, the play will also be presented in Hillsboro, Ore., following a two-week workshop with NPAN in partnership with Advance Gender Equity in the Arts (AGE) and Bag&Baggage Productions.

The Guthrie Theater’s Native Advisory Council—which includes members of Mni Giizhik Theatre Ensemble and four other Minnesota-based Native artists—has guided the institution’s planning for the National Day. “We are honored that each NAC member continues to invest in the Guthrie,” White said, “helping us expand our circles of care as we grow into an organization that supports the visibility and access of Native people.”

Marcie Rendon’s Say Their Names will also receive a second reading at Colorado College. Excerpts will be performed alongside Jaisey Bates and Jeff Barehand’s short play Never Be Afraid, featuring Native professional artists, faculty, Indigenous students, and other members of the student body.

“Say Their Names was written to push through the invisibility of the crisis of missing and murderedness that our Native community, our women, our families live with,” said playwright Marcie Rendon. “I hope that theaters and their audiences have heartfelt discussions after the play readings about solutions to the #mmiw/mmir; not just in Native communities but in any communities that experience trafficking and disappearing of their people. I am honored Say Their Names is a part of a nationwide project to call attention to this issue and hope hearing all our pieces across the continent will shift awareness and impact all communities.”

In Southern California, TigerBear Productions will present Isabella Madrigal’s Menil and Her Heart on her traditional Cahuilla homelands. “I am honored that Menil and Her Heart has been selected for a reading as part of the National Day of Theater Readings for MMIR,” said Isabella Madrigal. “This story began as a community theater play performed with Native communities across California, and I am so thrilled that it continues to be developed and shared. This project is informed by Cahuilla cosmology and created in dedication to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People. It aims to imagine how cultural wisdom can combat gender-based violence and empower Indigenous peoples through storytelling.” Madrigal and her sister Sophia Madrigal have also been commissioned to create a new 10-minute play about MMIWR for the Boston Theater Marathon XXVIII, produced by Boston Playwrights’ Theatre on May 3, 2026.

In Los Angeles, Theatre of NOTE will stage Quantum by Tara Moses, while Cal State LA plans a reading of Tourniquet by Honokee Dunn, winner of the Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program’s Young Native Playwrights Award.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, TheatreWorks will present The Tell Tale Heart by Carlos Aguirre, a hip hop musical exploring Indigenous erasure, internalized racism, and the burden of a guilty conscience.

In Washington, D.C., Arena Stage, Mosaic Theater Company, Theater Alliance, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company are collaborating to present panels, a Native American marketplace, and a reading of a play to be announced. The companies are also working together on longer-term strategies to address the systemic underrepresentation of Native people on American stages and in creative leadership.

Alongside the May 5 events at Arena Stage near the Southwest Waterfront, Woolly Mammoth will host its third annual Native American Art Market on May 9 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Downtown D.C. Curated by Connectivity Core Partner Mary Phillips (Umoⁿhoⁿ “Omaha”/Pueblo of Laguna), the market will feature Native artisans, craftspeople, regional organizations, and cultural performances. Additional details will be announced soon.

In Chicago, Dancing Pony Productions, in partnership with the American Indian Center, will present an evening of original work about MMIWR created by local Native women, anchored by Brianna Jonnie’s If I Go Missing. The readings will be connected through an original rap/spoken word piece written by a young male artist and will open and close with a local drum.

In addition to in-person events, Amy Wheeler’s National Play Club will host a virtual livestreamed conversation moderated by DeLanna Studi with participating playwrights.

NPAN also welcomes Playwrights Horizons in New York City to the National Day of Theater Readings for MMIWR and will announce its selected play on social media.

More Stories Like This

About The Author

Author: Native News Online StaffEmail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Native News Online is one of the most-read publications covering Indian Country and the news that matters to American Indians, Alaska Natives and other Indigenous people. Reach out to us at [email protected].