Curtains Open to 49

On Friday, November 18, McMahon Auditorium opened its curtains to the play 49.

Professor Hanay Geiogamah is very active in the production and also called before the play to speak to Director Mandee Thomas.

“He calls me, you know, every couple of days, makes sure that everything's going smoothly, and he's been so gracious,” she said. “I mean, he's allowing us to do this. He did not charge us any royalties. He said, ‘Make as many copies as you need.’ I mean, he's been so gracious, and he's out at LA. He teaches at UCLA. And I mean, I think the last time this play was performed was in the 1980s in Oklahoma. It was off-Broadway. And so, it's such a big deal. And we feel so lucky to be able to put it on here in his hometown because he's from here. So, it's really cool.”

Thomas said the play is metaphorical and poetic.

“The theme of it is a preservation,” she said. “It's the preservation of a culture through music, through dancing, through art. It's the preservation of a culture in the face of what might have been considered insurmountable odds and basically a plot by a government to do away with an entire culture. But even with that, it's still here.It's still thriving in this community. We're lucky to get to see that every day. And so, it's about triumph.”

Thomas said when she read the play, she read a line in which music is everywhere, and there’s always a song to sing.

“It's poetic to think about it in that way. But it's also very realistic because there is music everywhere, whether it's crickets chirping, which we have in this play, or whether it's a drum, whether it's the rhythm of life, the heartbeat of life through a drum or through an actual heartbeat,” she said. “It is music is everywhere. And those rhythms, those patterns, that's what really struck me. And that's how I was able to identify it initially. And then, Hanay, Professor Geiogamah, was great. He told me about this book that he'd written about the play. So, it actually talks about all the symbolism. It talked about everything that he had meant when he wrote those words and the repetition and the symbolism, the metaphor. All of it was explained. And then, of course, I got to talk with him all the time. And so, he really walked me through Native American theater and how it's different from Western theater and the beauty of Native American theater. And so hopefully, we've brought that out for the audience today.”

Thomas said working with the cast was great.

“I have so appreciated this cast,” she said. “Jolene Schonchin, I was in a meeting with her. I was nervous about doing this. And she just put all of my nerves to rest because she said, ‘Don't worry.’ And she gave me a list of names to call. Every person I called, they said ‘Yes, without a doubt,’ didn't even hesitate. Kevin Sovo, Travis Komahcheet. I mean, these people are professional musicians. They're top-notch. And they were wanting to do this so that they could represent their culture, that they could share what they love with a large audience. And so, without Jolene and without making those connections, I tell you, though, the Tosee family. And we've got four generations. We've got, you know, Thomasina Tsoodle Leader. We've got her great granddaughter that she talks to in a scene and her grandsons walking behind them and her daughters, you know, in the play, too. So, four generations of one family. We've got elders from the Kiowa Nation, the Comanche Nation. It's just it's so nice to just work with these people. No, they didn't have any acting experience, really. There's one person, Mundy. He's phenomenal. He's our main character, Nightwalker. He has most of the lines. So, yeah, he needed to be an actor. And he's a phenomenal actor. He's wonderful. And the rest of them, this is like their first play. And I mean, I can't believe it. It overwhelms me every day because they're so they're just right there. You know, they knew everything I asked them to do. They were like, ‘Yeah, oh, sure, I can do that.’”

Travis Komahcheet played the flute for the play 49. This was also his first play.

“My character, I think, basically is more of the musical aspect of it, you know, where I do the exchange,” he said. “And Manny basically let me play with the whole part just to be comfortable with what I'm going to do. But I understand now where it plays a part in the whole play. You know, it's more of just, I guess, setting the tone, definitely opening up the whole play, you know, and being a part of the 1800s kind of backdrop that we have going on. So, it's an interesting character because I have one line during the 49, too. But that's when I change out to another character. So, I'm actually a couple of characters, you know, but the main one I like doing is just the unspoken where I kind of a lot of the musical tone to it.”

Komahcheet has been performing music since he was little, but this is his frist play he’s been a part of. He and his wife were part of a hardcore band and touring. Komahcheet said his talents are manly centered around the arts.

“I'm a visionary because I love art. I love music, and I really see those as tools as well. I used to see those as the end game because I love it so much,” he said. “I have a lot of passion for music and art. But my wife and I, anything that I think of as a hobby, I take it very seriously, too, because I'm not having fun unless it's excellent. So, I'm really involved with art and music. My wife and I run a multimedia design firm. We just got back to doing a lot of outreach. I just got through doing a show. Well, about four demonstrations for some students yesterday, you know, where I do storytelling, I do demonstration with the flute, some different instruments and stuff like that.”

Komahcheet said he heard some of the greatest musicians, athletes or artists came from a hard childhood.

“It was a way for them to escape into their own world, you know, and I had a lot of that. So that, I think, is my main motivation to doing anything excellent is I've been doing it since I was a little kid,” he said. “You know, first thing was the piano, and then just started gravitating toward different instruments. And then I realized I really loved learning how to draw because you create your own world doing that. You know what I mean? So, it's I felt like I had some control over, you know, how I felt after school, going home by playing on my piano or the guitar or creating something, you know, with my own will. I thought that was pretty special.”

Komahcheet said his favorite part about the play was working with everybody.