Indigenous Stories Take Center Stage at ASU with “Native Nation Project” Book Launch

A new collection of plays born from years of collaboration with Indigenous communities across the United States, “Native Nation Project,” will be celebrated with an advance book launch and reading at Arizona State University’s Tempe campus today.

The event, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on October 20 at the Labriola National American Indian Data Center within Hayden Library, features work by ASU faculty members Larissa FastHorse and Michael John Garcés. The book, publishing next month, gathers the plays “Urban Rez,” “Native Nation,” and “Wičoun,” each developed through immersive artistic exchanges with Native people in Los Angeles, Arizona, and the Great Plains.

FastHorse, a member of the Sicangu Lakota Nation and a 2020 MacArthur Fellow, emphasized the collaborative nature of the project. “These plays belong to the people who helped create them. Every performance, every conversation, is a continuation,” she said. The plays confront the historical erasure of Indigenous voices while centering themes of humor, strength, and sovereignty, offering a powerful counter-narrative to traditional representations. This project exemplifies a growing movement toward community-engaged theater, prioritizing Indigenous self-representation and cultural preservation. More information about ASU’s commitment to Indigenous scholarship can be found here.

The launch will include live readings by nearly 20 original cast members and current ASU students, moderated by ASU English Professor of Practice Ty Defoe, followed by a book signing and reception. The event is also part of ASU’s Humanities Week. FastHorse explained the origins of the project, stating, “It actually started with my partner, Michael John Garcés…We spend a minimum of two years in each community…to show that we weren’t there to extract stories, but to collaborate.”

Following the event, the book will be widely released in November, and FastHorse and Garcés will continue their collaborative work, including an adaptation of “Oroonoko” in New York.