Voices of Indigenous women heard in staged reading and exhibition

A staged reading and workshop with San Pedro-raised poet, playwright, and professor Carolyn Dunn will take place this Saturday.

The staged reading of “How We Go Missing” will be open to the general public, followed by a healing-centered writing workshop for the Indigenous community. 

“How We Go Missing” is Carolyn Dunn’s one-act play, which will be read at Angels Gate Cultural Center (AGCC) by professional actors to bring to life the stories of five women from different tribes as they experience grief, loss, and the impact of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women/Girls/2S/Relatives (MMIW) crisis. 

The play expands upon the topics and themes explored in the current AGCC exhibition “Sustainers of Life.” This event aims to call attention to the ongoing MMIW crisis while providing an avenue for community healing and connection.

Carolyn M. Dunn's life as a storyteller encompasses both poetry and playwriting with works about family, grief, resilience, and the landscape in all genres and in between. She has written numerous books, including the award-winning Outfoxing Coyote (That Painted Horse Press, 2002), Coyote Speaks (with Ari Berk, HN Abrams, 2008), and Decentered Playwriting, coedited with Leslie Hunter and Eric Micha Holmes, Routledge, 2023). Her plays The Frybread Queen, Ghost Dance, and Soledad have been developed and staged at Native Voices at the Autry. A Louisiana Acadian Creole, Dr. Dunn is a non-enrolled Cherokee, Seminole and Mvskoke Freedman tribal descendant and is a Tunica/Choctaw-Biloxi and Atakapas-Ishak descendant and community member. Additionally, she has various acting credits and is a member of the Dramatists Guild and Actor’s Equity. Dr. Dunn lives part-time in Los Angeles, where she is full-time faculty in the department of Theatre and Dance at California State University, Los Angeles, and part-time in Oklahoma with her family.

“Sustainers of Life” is co-curated by Cecelia Caro and Laurie Steelink. The exhibition features seven contemporary Native and Indigenous women artists: Weshoyot Alvitre, Emily Clarke, Katie Dorame, Eve-Lauryn Little Shell LaFountain, Cara Romero, Corey Stein, and Linda Vallejo. The exhibition addresses colonialism's impact, motherhood, and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis while also celebrating individual stories of strength and survival. Through diverse media, the exhibition creates space for both mourning losses and celebrating the ongoing resilience of those who nurture and protect life.

The exhibition will be on view in the gallery through January 24th, 2026, with free public visiting hours on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. More information is available at angelsgateart.org.

The stage reading and creative writing workshop will take place on Saturday, December 13, from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is free, RSVP is required. Angels Gate Cultural Center, Bldg A, 3601 S Gaffey St, San Pedro, CA 90731.