Lark White.  Photo credit: Ahron R. Foster

“Indian Princesses” Explores Identity and Inheritance in New York Premiere

Rehearsal images have begun to circulate for Indian Princesses, a new play by Eliana Theologides Rodriguez and directed by Miranda Cornell, arriving this spring in a co-production between Atlantic Theater Company and Rattlestick Theater.

The production, which begins performances on April 30 and opens May 19 for a limited run through June 7, draws from Rodriguez’s childhood experience in a father-daughter program bearing the same name. Set in the summer of 2008, the play follows five girls of color and their white fathers as they take part in a bonding program built on crafts, outdoor activities, and borrowed traditions.

At first, the structure feels familiar. The fathers show up. The daughters follow along. The activities promise connection. But that premise begins to shift as the girls ask questions—about identity, about history, about what has been taken and reshaped. The answers do not come easily. In some cases, they do not come at all.

Rodriguez describes the work as a comedy, though its focus runs deeper. The humor is present, but it does not soften the subject.

“Though I wrote this play as a comedy,” she said, “its impetus was inspired in part by my own family history and the assimilationist agenda the United States employed to rob us of our heritage.”

Her perspective points to a larger pattern: culture stripped, repackaged, and returned in forms that feel accessible while leaving the original meaning obscured.

The phrase “Indian Princess,” in this context, becomes more than a title. It reflects a version of identity shaped by distance and misunderstanding.

The cast includes Ben Beckley, Anissa Marie Griego, Rebecca Jimenez, Greg Keller, Serenity Mariana, Pete Simpson, Lark White, Haley Wong, and Frank Wood.

The creative team includes scenic design by Emmie Finckel, costumes by Sarafina Bush, lighting by Mextly Couzin, and sound by Salvador Zamora, with dramaturgy by Sierra Rosetta. Casting is by The Telsey Office (Karyn Casl and Stephanie Yankwitt), and Andie Burns serves as production stage manager.

Indian Princesses was developed in part through the Terrence McNally New Works Incubator at Rattlestick Theater, in partnership with The Terrence McNally Foundation.

The play raises questions it does not rush to answer. It looks at what it means to inherit a story that feels incomplete—and what it takes to tell it with clarity.