Five plays at festival

Public Theater to Launch Native Theater Festival Dec. 5One of the productions slated for participation is In a World Created By a Drunken God by Drew Hayden Taylor. Kennetch Charlette stages the festival reading, scheduled for Dec. 5 at 7 PM. "While Jason packs up his Toronto apartment, looking forward to starting a new life by moving home to his family's reserve, he is interrupted by an unannounced visitor who drags him into the past he had long forgotten," press notes state.

Diane Glancy's "dark drama, about lives colliding in the aftermath of a car accident," Salvage—directed by Sheila Tousey—will be presented Dec. 6 at 8 PM.

In William S. Yellow Robe, Jr.'s A Stray Dog, "Alec returns home to his home on the reservation and has to fight the ongoing struggle of Tribal recognition with his family, like a stray dog returning to its pack," press notes state. Gary Farmer directs the Dec. 7 8 PM reading.

At 6 PM on Dec. 8, performer, poet and musician Joy Harjo ("Def Poetry Jam") will debut her first piece written for the theatre, which is entitled Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light. Lisa Peterson directs.

The five-day festival will culminate Dec. 9 at 8 PM in the staged presentation of Darrell Dennis' Tales of An Urban Indian. Dennis will also perform his work, which "tells the tale of Simon Douglas, an Indian born on a reservation and named by the U.S. government, who tries to find his way in the big city," according to press materials.