Native Voices 2025
Presenting the 31st Festival of New Plays
Continuing more than two decades of partnership with Native Voices, La Jolla Playhouse is proud to present Native Voices’ 31st Festival of New Plays to San Diego audiences on August 10, 2025.
La Jolla Playhouse is thrilled and honored to be a partner for the 31st Festival of New Plays, celebrating inspiring and talented Indigenous playwrights as they regale us with their stories of being Native today.
For the 31st Festival of New Plays, Native Voices is honored to share the works and voices of two Chicago playwrights, each bringing a unique perspective to the stage: A Century of Sparrows by Sierra Rosetta (Lac Courte Oreilles Chippewa Nation) and Pigeon/Thunderbird by Dillon Chitto (Mississippi Choctaw, Laguna and Isleta Pueblo).
As many are aware, Native Voices selects plays that resonate with our current social climate and the issues affecting Indian Country. And in true serendipitous fashion, there is always a common theme we do not fully recognize until after the plays are selected. While both plays are by Chicago playwrights and reference birds, we promise that is not their only connection; both works delve deeply into what a family is.
Are we born into our family, or do we choose them? What cycles do we inherit from them? And what cycles can we break? As we all know too well, no words can cut deeper or deeply comfort like those spoken by “family.” So join us as we experience all the joy, anger and laughter family provides. These plays are not just about the characters on stage, but about all of us and the many types of families we are a part of.
This year’s Festival will include:
A CENTURY OF SPARROWS
by Sierra Rosetta (Lac Courte Oreilles Chippewa Nation)
Spanning a century of love, loss and legacy, A Century of Sparrows follows six Ojibwe matriarchs — grandmothers, mothers and daughters — bound by blood and spirit. As they navigate the echoes of Indian Boarding Schools, forced adoptions, infertility and fractured family ties, these women bear witness to each other across time. The play reveals how trauma, resilience and memory travel through generations — not just downward but upward, in a circle unbroken. A Century of Sparrows is told non-linearly to ask: Can the past ever be healed through the future? And what does it mean to mother a lineage that mothers you in return?
Loosely inspired by real testimonies of Native women.
Sunday, Aug 10, 11:00 am
Theodore and Adele Shank Theatre
at La Jolla Playhouse
Free to attend; RSVP required
Limit 2 tickets per order
Tickets for this reading are currently sold out, but seats may be released closer to performance dates, so check back here and follow us on Instagram where we post ticket releases on our Stories.
PIGEON/THUNDERBIRD
by Dillon Chitto (Mississippi Choctaw, Laguna and Isleta Pueblo)
Set in the vibrant heart of Chicago’s North Side, Pigeon/Thunderbird follows a close-knit group of queer urban Natives as they navigate community, kinship and survival in a world that seldom accommodates all three. When a trickster arrives with an unexpected proposition, this chosen family must decide whether to protect the bonds that unite them or risk everything in pursuit of something greater. Pigeon/Thunderbird intertwines Indigenous storytelling with contemporary queer realities, offering a bold exploration of love, belonging and transformation.
Sunday, Aug 10, Time 2:00 pm
Theodore and Adele Shank Theatre
at La Jolla Playhouse
Free to attend; RSVP required
Limit 2 tickets per order
Tickets for this reading are currently sold out, but seats may be released closer to performance dates, so check back here and follow us on Instagram where we post ticket releases on our Stories.
Note: This popular event fills up fast. Please reserve asap to secure your seats. Max 2 seats per person due to limited capacity.
About Native Voices
Native Voices is devoted to developing and producing new works for the stage by Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and First Nations playwrights. Native Voices provides a supportive, collaborative setting for Native theatre artists from across North America and is committed to putting Native narratives at the center of the American story in order to facilitate a more inclusive dialogue on what it means to be American.
Find out more information about Native Voices at The Autry Museum of the American West.
Native Voices’ 31st Festival of New Plays at La Jolla Playhouse is sponsored by:
Photo credit: Becks Falk Photography
