Stand-Off at HWY #37

Protesters vs the Law in Native Voices at Autry's Free Reading-STAND OFF AT HWY #37 on 9/26Native Voices at the Autry continues its vital role as the country's only equity theatre company dedicated exclusively to developing the work of Native American Playwrights with a free staged reading of STAND-OFF AT HWY #37, a new play by Vickie Ramirez (Tuscarora*) on Thursday, September 26, 2013, 7:30 pm, at the Wells Fargo Theater at the Autry National Center in Griffith Park. The reading, which is followed by an audience "Talk-Back" with Ramirez and the director, Jon Lawrence Rivera, is part of Native Voices' signature FIRST LOOK SERIES: Plays in Process, which brings playwrights together with professional directors, dramaturgs, and actors for a workshop and public presentation at the Autry, providing an important next step in the play's development.

A dramatic tale about political, environmental and spiritual convictions, Stand-Off at HWY #37 begins when a clash between protesters and law enforcement over plans to build a highway through a reservation in upstate New York prompts a Tuscarora man to abandon his U.S. military uniform and join the protesters to defend his beliefs. Initially created as a one-act play for the 9th Annual Theater Festival at Ohio Northern University, Stand-Off received a student production in Ohio in 2011, followed by a table reading with Amerinda Theater at The Public Theatre in 2012 as well as a workshop at the Classical Theatre of Harlem's Playwright's Playground. Ramirez subsequently extended it to a full-length play, which received its first reading at Native Voices at the Autry's Festival of New Plays in May 2013. Stand-Off was also featured at Montana Rep's Missoula Colony workshop in July 2013.Comment:  For more on Native Voices at the Autry, see 2013 Festival of New Plays and Distant Thunder Read in NYC.