By Sandi Masori
LA JOLLA, California — Currently playing at La Jolla Playhouse, Indian Princesses is the story of white fathers and their racially diverse daughters. It’s set in 2008 and named after the real-life program on which the play is based. It’s similar to the Girl Scouts in that it’s a social and adventure club, in this case with the goal of helping fathers and daughters bond.
The set is simple, doubling as the inside of a community center and then a campground.
Troop leader and devout Christian Glen (Patrick Kerr) applied to lead a troop with racial diversity to help his awkward granddaughter Samantha (Haley Wong) make some friends.
Each family has in common that the white father is struggling with how to relate to the needs of his non-white daughter (or granddaughter). How can he keep their respective heritages alive while dealing with the unique challenges of the tween years? The fathers worry about how much to say and what to bring attention to.
No one wants to tell young Maisey (Clarissa Vickerie) how Black people got to America. Her dad Wayne (Jason Maddy) has just lost his job and has been looking for a new one for some time. Young Andi (Rebecca Jimenez) is struggling with her mother’s death, but her dad Mac (Mike Sears), a stoic construction worker, doesn’t want to talk about it. Companiable silence is his love language of choice.
Dad Chris (Greg Keller) is the most “liberal activist” of the group- he was a lawyer in New York and became step-dad to two half- Native American girls, Lily (Anissa Marie Griego) and Hazel (Serenity Mariana)- and he loves to talk about racism and proper historic context and vocabulary.
The dads awkwardly try to find things to talk about and connect over, as the girls more easily form their own bonds. But pre-teen girls being pre-teen girls, those friendships are not without their own drama. When we first meet them, the group is getting ready to go to the big father/ daughter camp getaway and preparing a skit for the talent show.
In the program there is an insert letting the audience know that though the play is called Indian Princesses after the former YMCA program of the same name, the phrase itself is actually a slur (much like JAP for us Jewish females) and shouldn’t be used outside of this specific context.
Director Miranda Cornell, self-described as “Jewpanese” really brings out the awkwardness of the situation, both in the dynamic between the dads and the girls. All of the actors do a great job in their roles, with the girls having the added burden of getting the audience to believe that grown women are 9-12 years old.
It takes a moment to adjust when they first come out on the stage but their masterful performance very quickly.will have you seeing them as the kids they portray .
The show runs an hour and 50 min with no intermission, so plan your bathroom visit accordingly. Indian Princesses plays through July 6
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Associate Editor Sandi Masori is a theater and restaurant reviewer for San Diego Jewish World