Smoke

Jan 24, 2025

Written byDrew Woodson

KCRep is excited to announce the next recipient of the Four Directions Playwright Residency: Drew Woodson and his world-premiere play, Smoke.

In the summer of 2018, amidst the chaos of California wildfires, a family gathers in their Clear Lake home, where old wounds and new revelations ignite tensions more intense than the encroaching blaze. With secrets, survival, and strained bonds at its core, Smoke is a searing exploration of family, identity, and resilience in the face of inevitable change.

KCRep will be hosting a free, staged reading of Smoke on Friday, January 24th at Copaken Stage.

The Four Directions Playwright Residency is a program inaugurated to support early career Native Playwrights by KCRep and three other arts organizations: The Great Plains Theatre Commons (GPCT), Tofte Lakes Center, and Tulsa Artists fellowship. Over more than a year period, each organization provides four separate weeks of residencies and year-round engagement with a culminating reading at KCRep. Learn more about the program.

Meet the Playwright: Drew Woodson

Drew Woodson is a Western Shoshone playwright based in New York City. He has had his work read in multiple theaters across New York, including Rattlestick Theater where he was asked to open the first annual Northeastern Native Arts Festival with his play Your Friend, Jay Silverheels. For this same work, Drew was named Yale’s Young Indigenous Playwright of 2021. More recently, Drew completed a two month artists residency on Governors Island for AICH, and completed a workshop of a new work From Above under the direction of Madeline Sayet. As a writer, Drew seeks to tell stories where Native people are allowed to take up space, be complicated, and ultimately be more than a storytelling device.

Cast

Creative Team

Written by
Drew Woodson

Lead Producer/Casting
Andi Meyer

Stage Directions/Production Stage Manager
Mary R. Honour