Liz has a syndrome. Joe has a disease. Neither know they’re sick. My Name’s Not Indian Joe, based on true events, journeys with a Choctaw man looking for a fair fight & finding family instead. An unlikely friendship takes us from the streets of Waco, TX to the streets of New York City, asking the question ‘Where is home?’ or more acutely, ‘Who is home?’ & how high is the price to find the answer. The Progressive Folk sound of My Name’s Not Indian Joe weaves together acoustic instrumentation with strains of industrial pop while telling a story that stares down racism & stereotyping. In this deeply fraught moment in our country, the show reminds us proximity is power on the dirt road to healing. Davis explains:
"In creating this show, my wish is for people to see a way forward at a time when our public discourse is hostile at best. The call is to empathy & forgiveness.I'm dogged in trying to get the message of this show woven into every part of its DNA. Ultimately, reconciliation is worth it. Listening is essential."
The piece was first seen at The Cherry Lane Mentor Project, mentored by Tony winner Enda Walsh, was workshopped at The Cleveland Play House’s New Ground Festival & The Rhinebeck Writer’sRetreat, and also New York Stage & Film Barnard. My Name's Not Indian Joe was seen at The Goodspeed Opera House Norma Terris Theatre via The Johnny Mercer Colony.
Thanks to several incredible investment teams, our Off-Broadway debut of My Name's Not Indian Joe at The Davenport Theater on 46th was a triumph, full of discovery & enthusiasm for what's next in this project's journey. That includes an album of the show's original music! Learn how you can help below!
Don Scardino (Director)
Scardino directed A Few Good Men and Lennon on Broadway, Later Life (Off-Broadway) and was the Artistic Director at Playwrights Horizons for five years. He won an OBIE AWARD for directing A.R. Gurney’s A Cheever Evening. Films: The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, Me & Veronica, and Advice from a Caterpillar. TV: produced and directed 30 ROCK (NBC) and won 2 Emmys. Also: multiple episodes of 2 Broke Girls (CBS), Young Sheldon (CBS), The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix), My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (CW), and many more. He is also a musician and songwriter.
Yasmine Lee (Choreographer)
Yasmine’s recent theater credits as Choreographer includeWild Goose Dreams at La Jolla Playhouse. As Movement Director: the U.S. Premier of Tender Napalm, and the U.S. Premiere of Knives in Hens. As Associate Movement Director or Choreographer: Once Musical(A.R.T., NYTW, Broadway, West End, Austraila, S.Korea), The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime(Broadway), The Crucible(Broadway), Sweeney Todd(Barrow Street Theater), the Opening Ceremonies XXII Winter Olympic Games in Sochi Russia, PEARL Spring River Flower Moon Night (Lincoln Center, China Polly Center, Canada). Select additional credits include “Across The Universe” (Sony Pictures), “The Dunham Technique Video” commissioned by the U.S. Library of Congress, Margie Gilles’ Legacy Project and Momix.
Elizabeth Davis (Book, Lyrics & Music)
Elizabeth is a Tony Award & Drama Desk Award Nominee, & a NYMF & Innovative Theatre Award winner. BFA, MFA in TheatrePerformance. Visit www.elizabethadavis.com for extensive theatre, tv, film & writing credits. Elizabeth dedicates this show to Jimmy & Janet Dorrell who continue to give their lives to the betterment of those living in poverty in Waco, & Kevin Ryan who dedicates his life to children in and out of homelessness in NYC. Forever & always for Jordan & Josiah. For Frank, Melody & Jonathan. www.RevealUnseen.com/ www.IndianJoeTheMusical.com/Take-Action/
Luke Holloway (Additional Music/Orchrestrations)
Hollowayis a writer and composer.He’s had works produced and performed atCincinnatiChildren's Theater, Casa Mañana Theatre (Ft. Worth, TX) and the Brooklyn Children’s Theatre (Brooklyn, NY). He is an alum of the 2015 Rhinebeck Writer’s Retreat, and is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. He was trained at the Berklee College of Music in composition and music production, and is adept at blending musical theater with pop, rock, and various other musical styles. Luke’s acting credits includeNatasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812(Pierre Replacement)andMillion Dollar Quartet. For info on upcoming projects visit luke-lisa.com
Cynthia Meng (Music Director)
Meng is a New York-based music director and pianist. Recently, she worked as a music assistant on the upcoming production of Moulin Rouge! and served as a pianist and conductor for the Off-Broadway production of Goldstein at the Actors Temple Theatre. Other credits include Elementary Space Time Show (Playwrights Horizons), The Brontës (Piper Theatre), and Bystander, which won Best Short Musical at the NY Theatre Festival’s Summerfest this year. As a music director and music assistant, she has worked with Tony Award winner Larry O’Keefe and David Byrne. As a composer, she has been featured at 54 Below and NYMF. She currently also lives a double life as a software engineer for Pandora.
Ann Beyersdorfer (Scenic Designer)
Beyersdorfer is a NYC base environmental and visual storyteller. Select Set Design: AFTERGLOW (Davenport Theater), A REAL BOY (59E59), JONAH AND OTTO, TRIAL OF AN AMERICAN PRESIDENT (Theatre Row),THE NIGHT ALIVE (Guild Hall, NY), THE DODGERS (Hudson Theater, LA), GHOST (White Plains PAC), A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS (Nat'l Tour, Gershwin Entertainment), THE BOX SHOW (Regional Tour). Select Associate Set Design: JITNEY (Broadway-Tony Award Nom. for Set Design), PHISH NYE CONCERT ’16/’17 (Madison Square Garden), THE CHILDREN (Broadway), ANASTASIA (National Tour) & the upcoming production of SAMSON ET DALILA (Met Opera). Syracuse Alum & proud member of USA 829. www.annbeyersdorfer.com
Zach Blane (Lighting Designer)
Selected Off-Broadway: Too Much, Too Much, Too Many; Suicide Incorporated (Roundabout Theatre Company); Would You Still Love Me If (New World Stages, dir. Kathleen Turner); Charles Busch’s Cleopatra (TFANC); Wringer (City Center); The Siblings Play (Cherry Lane); Suitcase Under the Bed (Mint Theatre Company, Theatre Row); Bulldozer: The Ballad of Robert Moses (St. Clements); The Crusade of Connor Stephens (Jerry Orbach); The Eternal Space (Theatre Row); Soul Doctor (Actors Temple); The Good Girl (59E59); The Gentleman Caller; The Dork Knight (Abingdon); Sommerfugl; Holiday House (4th Street, NYTW). National Tour: Crane: On Earth, In Sky (Heather Henson). Norwegian Cruise Lines (Fleet-wide Lighting Designer). Named "Designer to Watch" by Live Design Magazine 2011. www.ZachBlane.com Instagram: @zachblane.
Quentin Chiappetta (Sound Director)
Chiappetta’s collaborations span from original music and sound design for on and Off-Broadway productions (Irena’s Vow, Murder in the First, Martin Luther on Trial, Terms of Endearment, The Snow Orchid, Catching the Butcher, Road to Damascus, A Wilder Christmas, The Navigator) to television (The First 48, Dallas SWAT) music and sound design for film and documentaries (Daughters of Destiny, 3 Backyards, Film Hawk) and collaborations with artists including Christian Marclay (The Clock). He has received Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Award nominations and has won two Innovative Theatre Awards.
Marjorie Ann Wood (Production Stage Manager)
National Tour: The Merchant of Venice Off Broadway: One Thousand Nights and One Day (Prospect), The View UpStairs (InvisibleWall), A Dog Story (Davenport), Pericles, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew, Ruzante! (TFANA), Abyss, Ludic Proxy (PlayCo), Regional: Peerless, Kiss Me, Kate!, On The Town, Romance in Hard Times, Fiddler on the Roof, Guys and Dolls, Sweeney Todd (Barrington Stage), Phantom! (Moonlight), Hedwig (Cygnet) MFA: Rutgers TLMF
Angelica Zollo (Co-Producer)
Angelica Zollo is a writer, producer, director and musician. She grew up in London, England and is a graduate of The Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University. Trauma is a Time Machine, her debut feature film that she wrote, directed & produced, featuring Elizabeth A. Davis, made it’s world premiere at The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival and is screening at The Marfa Film Festival this July in Marfa, Texas. She is honoured to be a part of Davis’s journey and will follow her wherever she may go and create.
Evan Bernardin Productions (General Manager)
Upcoming: Reunion '85, Anne of Green Gables (Merry Go Round Playhouse). Current: Million Dollar Quartet (Nat'l Tour), Afterglow Previous: The Dodgers, We Are The Tigers (Ovation nomination), The Navigator (Drama Desk Nomination). We have worked with the New York Musical Festival (NYMF), Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS (BCEFA), and FRINGE (NY/LA); collaborative projects include performances at Lincoln Center, The United Nations, The Harvard Club, Culture Project, Cornell University, The Ohio Theatre, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. www.evanbernardinproductions.com
I wrote Joe’s obituary while we were simultaneously writing this show. Never has art imitated life in such a peculiar, painful or beautiful way for me. His obituary included portions of the following, based on the information I was able to cobble together over our 14-year friendship.
Narciso Allala, long known as "Joe Lightfoot Gonzales" or, endearingly as "Indian Joe", passed away Friday, August 15, 2014 at the age of 68 in Waco, Texas. A memorial service will be held Friday, September 19, 2014 at Mission Waco’s Friday Morning Breakfast at 6 AM. "Joe" was born on March 18, 1946 in Robstown, Texas to Dominga Allala, a Choctaw Native American. His father was of Hispanic decent. With his older brother and sister, he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he lived for many years. Joe only completed the 7th grade, but had his Master's Degree in street smarts, living many of his 68 years intermittently on the streets across America.
He lived in New York City in addition to Los Angeles, as well Ohio, Nevada, Colorado, Illinois, and throughout the state of Texas, taking his infectious laugh and no-nonsense attitude with him. He worked hard when he found odd jobs, operating by the motto, "Don't take no wooden nickels." Joe also loved the outdoors, to walk for hours uninhibited, keeping himself strong and full of fight. Joe had a Robin Hood heart, was fiercely loyal to some, and polarizing in most all respects. His sense of humor, however, was unmatched, as were his civic and social opinions on government, poverty and racial equality…
He's survived by many on the streets throughout the country with whom he crossed paths, friends and supporters in Waco, as well as many Baylor students and faculty who loved to take his wisdom and perspective with a grain of salt. He's also survived by his unofficially adopted daughter, Elizabeth and her family, Jordan, Frank, Melody and Jonathan. Lastly, he is survived by several relatives with whom he had little contact, but hoped to see again. - Elizabeth A Davis
Joe fully recognized that he would most likely not have suffered as he did on the streets if he would have been given the opportunity to have an education. That’s why a scholarship has been set up in his name.
$50,000 is needed to fully endow the Joe Lightfoot Gonzales Memorial Fund through Baylor University. This is especially fitting because Joe loved the students of Baylor and had even worked there for a short time. The scholarship will go to a first generation college hopeful, ideally of Native decent.
Imagine : A kid with no previous educational hope sleeps in a beautiful dorm room overlooking the 1-35 bridge because a guy called Joe slept under that bridge and inspired hope in others.
In order to ensure authenticity in our understanding of the roots of Joe's culture, we are partnering with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma's approved Choctaw School. Choctaw speaker, Henry Battiest Jr., has helped us write a brand new Choctaw lullaby The Choctaw School is also providing translation and pronunciation counsel.
It's important to note that Joe was not familiar with his Native culture. He was removed from any involvement with it; still, he never let anyone forget that it was a huge part of his identity. The small fragments of Choctaw throughout the show are reflective of his fragmented understanding of Choctaw life. It is not reflective of our desire to fully honor the Choctaw presence in America today through this show.
*This is not an authorized website of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.*
"This show is great." - Enthused Journalist
"I loved everything about the show, especially it's website!" - Cat Blogger
"To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die—to sleep,
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there's the rub" - Elizabethan Plagiarizer
"Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see
I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy
Because I'm easy come, easy go
A little high, little low
Anyway the wind blows, doesn't really matter to me, to me" - famous moustache
Rob Salas (Joe)
Salas has been acting for more than 40 years. He has appeared on stage in New York, Baltimore, Dallas and Austin, Texas, and has produced theatre in New York and Austin. He has appeared on television, including a stint on Another World with Don Scardino, and on various independent film projects, including Possession and Inhumanity, and is a singer/songwriter in the Americana style. His roles have ranged over the years from Edmund in King Lear and Malchiel in Gideon, to a mad turn as the King in Escurial. He is of American Indian and Mexican heritage and is proud to be part of the My Name is Not Indian Joe production and grateful for the privilege to bring this rich and flawed character to life on the stage.
Elizabeth Davis (Liz)
Elizabeth is a Tony Award & Drama Desk Award Nominee, & a NYMF & Innovative Theatre Award winner. BFA, MFA in TheatrePerformance. Visit www.elizabethadavis.com for extensive theatre, tv, film & writing credits. Elizabeth dedicates this show to Jimmy & Janet Dorrell who continue to give their lives to the betterment of those living in poverty in Waco, & Kevin Ryan who dedicates his life to children in and out of homelessness in NYC. Forever & always for Jordan & Josiah. For Frank, Melody & Jonathan. www.RevealUnseen.com/ www.IndianJoeTheMusical.com/Take-Action/
Josh Dawson (Jordan)
NATIONAL TOUR: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. The Broadway Boys (Winter 15 Tour), WYNTON MARSALIS JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER on Tour. REGIONAL: STAGES St. Louis, Dallas Theatre Center. TRAINING: CCM and the University of Michigan. thanks to Mom and Dad, Asia, Lisa and Keith. Dustin and The mine team. This is dedicated to Rachel Rockwell. Instagram: @jatones JoshADawson.com
Donna Bullock (Momma)
Broadway: Mother in Ragtime (Jefferson Award, Chicago), Lucy in A Class Act (Ovation nomination, L.A.), Bobbie/Gabby in City of Angels. Other favorites: A Perfect Future (Cherry Lane), Take Me Along (Irish Rep), Rabbit Hole (Huntington), Foxfire with Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy (Ahmanson), Sweet Bird of Youth with Lauren Bacall, Me and My Girl opposite Tim Curry, Top Girls at the Public Theater (Obie Award), Beatrice to her husband Sherman Howard in Much Ado About Nothing. TV/Film credits go to imdb.com. AmSat certified teacher of Alexander Technique.
Melody Allegra Berger (Onstage Band)
Award-winning fiddler Melody Allegra Berger has been raising a ruckus in NYC for the past decade and has toured nationally and abroad. You can hear her on projects like House of Cards (S2E05) and American Music which debuted at #5 on Billboard’s bluegrass chart. Favorite theatre gigs include originating roles in Golden Boy of the Blue Ridge and Careless Love, tearing it up in Ring of Fire and Soul Doctor and covering fiddle/mandolin in the pit band for Desperate Measures. She has a folk duo with her sister and you should check out their debut album The Berger Sisters: Maybe So. www.melodyfiddler.com
Paul Lincoln(Onstage Band)
Lincoln is very proud to return to this inspiring production and work with this fantastic team. He is one of New York’s most prominent vocal coaches and teachers, with clients in a majority of the shows on Broadway. As a performer, some of his favorite productions include Allegro directed by John Doyle, Cabaret directed by Rob Marshall and Sam Mendez, and Souvenir. paullincoln.com
Ann Hairston (Onstage Band)
Off-Broadway:STOMP (NY cast.) Toured with Luscious Jackson, N'dea Davenport, and Macy Gray. Produces and DJ's house music under the name annex T.V.: Includes Samantha Bee,The Tonight Show, Sessions at West 54th, Canal Plus. Education: Berklee College of Music. Thank you Lara and Molly for all of your love and support.
Luke Holloway (Band Leader)
Holloway is a writer and composer. He’s had works produced and performed at Cincinnati Children's Theater, Casa Mañana Theatre (Ft. Worth, TX) and the Brooklyn Children’s Theatre (Brooklyn, NY). He is an alum of the 2015 Rhinebeck Writer’s Retreat, and is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. He was trained at the Berklee College of Music in composition and music production, and is adept at blending musical theater with pop, rock, and various other musical styles. Luke’s acting credits include Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 (Pierre Replacement) and Million Dollar Quartet. For info on upcoming projects visit luke-lisa.com
