LaReina LaPlante, Nathaniel TwoBears, and Elena Yazzie Photo by Rhiana Yazzie

The play also draws on Native imagery and the context of Native life and history, so that it takes on a unique flavor while addressing universal concerns, among them: coming to terms with loss, accepting that flawed family members are still family, challenging the status quo, overcoming denial to face alcoholism (or other addictions), fraudulent purveyors of self-help, and breaking through the ties that bind you to discover your purpose. If that sounds like a lot, well, it is. Razzie has embedded an inordinate number of topics in her play, and the sheer number of things to think about can get in the way of focusing on any one of them. That said, The Nut... provides a plenitude of stimulation, both sensory and intellectual, with text and images that capture our attention.

All of the principal characters in the play are Native, and the play is meant to inhabit that universe. Its two central characters are twenty-year old Shadi, who works out of her apartment doing something on a laptop computer, and her younger brother Broder, who lives with her. He moved out of their mother, Mater's, home because her dysfunction proved to be too much for a teenager. Broder is 16 or 17 and very aware that his sister's over-18 status allows her opportunities not open to him. He complains about this on occasion, but won't consider Shadi's suggestion that he can always move back in with their mother. Though he isn't legally old enough, he earns money as an Uber driver.

Broder knows that, being underage, he is less than fully formed, and he strives to find the experiences and insights that will help him to be complete. Shadi, barely an adult at age 20, presents an unhappy, lonely persona, and so is also incomplete. Our sense of this is reenforced when a box full of self-help books arrive for her. She doesn't seem particularly engaged in her work, though she diligently plugs away on her laptop. Egged on by Broder, Shadi tries using an online dating app to find someone who may help her to blossom, though it is never clear that this is her greatest need. This episode leads her to discover that the author of one of those self-help books is her own Aunty Ti, the only one of three siblings (along with Shadi's mother and her alcoholic uncle), who has found success in the world, at least as measured by career status. Aunty Ti swoops in with guidance for her niece that sounds good in theory, but reveals a failure to see Shadi as a unique person with unique feelings and concerns.

On top of this, Broder and Shadi's cousin Prima shows up in a hysterical state, begging them to let her stay with them and to help her deal with her father's alcoholism, which brings her great shame. Shadi and Broder have hopes of pushing their mother to overcome her lethargy, tidy up her slovenly home, move past her total attachment to her cat, Kitty Garland (in the form of a wonderful puppet, designed by Erica Warren), and face her feelings of loss involving an older bother, whom Broder and Shadi have never known and whose removal from the family is linked to further sources of discord among them. And it appears that Aunty Ti is using the family's private struggles as grist to further her career as a self-help guru.

These familial, very human dynamics share space on stage with flights apart from known reality, including a visiting crow, depicted in shadow puppet on screen, and an on-stage one-eyed amorphous being, both of whom pose challenges to Broder. Sound (designed by C. Andrew Mayer) and light (designed by Mike Grogan) contribute a great deal to the effect of these scenes. Mina Kinukawa has designed a spare by effective set enhanced by slide projections. Khamphian Van's costume designs are in synch with each character's nature. Playwright Yazzie co-directs with Amber Ball, keeping the play's disparate elements and tonal shifts swiftly moving.

Broder is my favorite character, perhaps because his youth makes him the most ready to face his demons in this world and in the ethereal world of the crow and one-eyed combatant, and also because he has a lively and sharp sense of humor. Nathaniel TwoBears gives a wonderful, spirited performance, adding to the strong impression he made last fall in New Native Theatre's Fallenstar: the Watchoverers. Elena Yazzie conveys the mix of sadness and frustration that hamper Shadi, while also bringing forth her will to pursue change. Charlie Fool Bear gives a sly performance as Mater, etching a depiction of the character's dysfunction early on, but as the play progresses, revealing the source of her pain and the resources she uses to maintain equilibrium.

Meredith McCoy gives a winning portrayal of the would-be caring Aunty Ti, drawing on self-help babble while scheming to use the family's turmoil to boost her status in the publishing marketplace. Thomas Draskovic is effective in portraying Uncle, who vacillates between having a good nature and becoming a combatant against his own family under the paranoid haze of alcohol. LaReina LaPlante overdoes her hysterical bit as cousin Prima, making it difficult to really tune in to what is going on with her character. She comes across as a caricature, not a real person. Niizhogaabo is appropriately obnoxious as Broder's recurring Uber customer, demonstrating the vile excess of male ego and misogyny.

With so much going on in The Nut, the Hermit, the Crow and the Monk, and shifts in the play's temperament, I can't say with certainty that I grasped every bit of its narrative and messaging. Another viewing might help catch the bits that eluded me the first time. The play runs about an hour and 50 minutes without intermission, and it is hard to attend to so wide an array of input for that long. Perhaps an intermission, allowing time for the audience to process what has already passed, and enabling the narrative to draw in its wings before taking flight in a second act, would be useful.

I was never less than fully engrossed, and the themes and intersecting plots in The Nut, the Hermit, the Crowand the Monk raise questions well worth pondering, laced with sharp humor, vast creativity, and a strong sense of its cultural context. New Native Theatre provides an invaluable outlet for Native playwrights and actors, and brings fresh works of great importance to Native audiences and any audience that seeks to expand its horizons.

The Nut, the Hermit, the Crowand the Monk, presented by New Native Theatre runs through May 4, 2025, at the Gremlin Theatre, 550 Vandalia St., St. Paul MN. For tickets and information, please visit www.newnativetheatre.org.

Playwright: Rhiana Yazzie; Directors: Rhiana Yazzie and Amber Ball; Scenic Design: Mina Kinukawa; Costume Design: Khamphian Vang; Sound Design: C. Andrew Mayer; Lighting Design: Mike Grogan; Puppet Design: Erica Warren; Props Master: Johnathan Boyd; Stage Manager: Iman DuBose.

Cast: Charlie Fool Bear (Mater), Thomas Draskovic (Uncle), LaReina LaPlante (Prima), Meredith McCoy (Aunty Ti), Niizhogaabo (Will/Formless Being/Man), Nathaniel TwoBears (Broder), Elena Yazzie (Shadi).