Cornerstone Theater Company

LOCATION:  Los Angeles, CA
AWARD:  2021 SHIFT – Transformative Change and Indigenous Arts
SOCIAL MEDIA:  Twitter, Facebook
PARTNER ARTIST: 
Larissa FastHorse (Sicangu Lakota Nation) BIO
ABOUT

Cornerstone Theater Company has been making new plays with and about communities throughout Los Angeles and beyond since 1986. Nationally recognized as a leader in community-engaged theater, its plays celebrate many voices as it strives to include people new to theater experiences as artists and/or audience. Each collaboration is designed with community partners, developed and staged at sites that hold community significance – schools, community centers, a community garden and service organizations. Audiences pay what they can so the performances are always accessible to all.

PROJECT

Cornerstone Theater Company is partnering with 2021 SHIFT Awardee Larissa FastHorse (Sicangu Lakota Nation) to produce D/N/Lakota Theater Project, a socially engaged performance project combining participatory research with theater-making. Its engagement methodology invites community participants to share personal ideas including their civic and social concerns, culminating in a community-generated and performed theatrical event. The process is of equal importance as the performance and includes talking circles, free workshops, political activism, and direct community action. The project will be inspired by Native American communities in Rapid City and the southern region of South Dakota, with a focus on forming coalitions to strengthen Native American artists and organizations while celebrating the Native identity of the region.