This is a photo update, to document the show. I've got pictures of before, during and after the show, and I want to share them all with you. This was such an amazing experience for me. It was a very moving show, a very powerful show, recounting a dark time in our history as a nation. It needs to be told.

The show was a huge success. We were sold out for many of the nights, and we got lots of standing ovations. But this wasn't an experience that I was really looking for accolades. What I wanted to accomplish was to put this part of our history out there. And I think we pulled it off nicely.

Grandma Coyote said she loved the show. I got to spend some time talking to her after the show, and she was really impressed with our efforts. She was such a cool lady. We were talking about my performance as Queen Victoria, and it was mentioned that one night, I needed to give the queen a cockney accent. So, I burst into "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" from My Fair Lady, and accompanied that with a little dance, for effect of course. Bless her heart, after she stopped laughing, she put her hand on my shoulder and whispered in my ear "You shouldn't do that around us old people, we can't control our kidneys!" She was such a beautiful woman, and she looked really good for 83 years old. I was so glad she enjoyed the show.

My Queen Victoria was a hit with the audience. People laughed every single night because Black Elk said "She looked like a fire coming." I don't know why people laughed at that, but they did. He also said "She was little, and fat, and we liked her." They laughed at that too. That one I understood.

Anyways, on to the photos!





This is Mike. I love Mike. He played Black Elk,my father, during the show. He was incredible. During the final show, he actually cried during his monologue after Wounded Knee. There were very few dry eyes that day.


This was taken during the photoshoot for the news paper. Notice my costume is different. That's because there was a huge delay on getting our actual costumes due to weather and such. That's me, my friend Jeff, as Crazy Horse, my friend Nathan killing Crazy Horse, and my friend Nate, who played my son, Hoksila. Hoksila is Lakota for "Boy" or "The boy within us all". Hoksila had turned his back on his roots and tried to adapt to the white way of living. Black Elk and Lucy (me), his mother, were not impressed. Backstage, I called him my dud of a son, and told him he took after his father hee.



This is me, Mike and Bridgette getting ready before the show. The dress I'm wearing was so comfortable, I wanted to keep it. It was made of buckskin and so very comfortable. Can you tell it was comfortable by how many times I mention it was comfortable?


Me, making an ever so beautiful face at my friend Kenny, who took the picture, and Bridgette. Bridgette wants me to marry her brother so she can have me as her sister in law. I think she's nuts. Notice my very bright and lovely purse.


This is Duane. Duane is a Santee, and he blessed us before the show. This is him during one of those blessings. Duane and his wife Geri are two of the coolest people I know, and they really enjoyed our performance, and fit right in with all us crazies. He says he has plans to invite us to Nebraska to put the show on there. I am totally all for this. When they went back to Nebraska, they called Hal and told him that they had never had a nicer or warmer welcome anywhere. They said when they woke up the next day, they felt homesick, and wanted to come back to their new family.
This cast truly was amazing. Everyone was exceedingly nice and helpful and there was not a hint of drama amongst us. We really came together and we truly were an ensemble. It was amazing.






The nights he was not there, we all really missed him. It was so comforting to go out on stage and smell the sage,cedar and sweetgrass lingering in the air. The air was energized, and I loved it. I need to go find myself some sage now.
He had two different outfits he wore, and he sat in the audience like that. It made me love him all the more, to see how proud of his heritage he was. I love Duane.



This was during the show. This is me, as Lucy Looks Twice, pleading with my father, Black Elk, to tell the story of the people, to share his great vision, because after he was gone, it would be too late.



This is The Battle of Little Big Horn, one of the action scenes in our show. This is Custer's death. The lighting is incredible, dontcha think? Lonna does such an AMAZING job with the lighting!



I just love this shot. Custer is now dead. Crazy Horse is standing on the ridge to the right, overlooking. Again, the lighting. *sigh* I miss this show.



Me as Queen Victoria, minus my crown. I LOVED that dress. I was corseted and had a hoop skirt on, and it was just incredible. It was beautiful, and still black, sticking with history. After Albert died, Queen Victoria wore black for the rest of her life in mourning, and that was like 40 some odd years. She also declared that no king afterwards be called Albert. She survived 3 assassination attempts and bore nine children. She was quite a lady.



This is Wounded Knee, right before the soldiers kill us. Again, the lighting. It's beautiful. The day of the Wounded Knee Massacre was during winter, and most of the dead were frozen. So the lighting is to indicate that. It was such a strong scene.



Cast Party!! This is me with my girls Lauren and Brooke. Brooke looked so beautiful in her costume. It was white buckskin, and really looked good against her dark skin. Lauren played a man onstage hehehe. Every night we'd sing "Be A Man" from Mulan to pump up.



This is me and my pal Rich, who played Custer. He's the one I "flashed" on stage hee. Next to him, the one with my arm around him, is Joe. He is 73 and this was his first show. I adore Joe. And you want to know who I'm talking to in this shot?

http://imdb.com/media/rm139566336/nm1859513 This guy! Joe's hot grandson, who came in from LA to see his grandpa act on stage. He's such a nice guy! I called him "Joe's hot grandson" so many times, and he's just smile heh.He was a really great guy and I wish him all the luck in the world with his upcoming Budweiser comercial and all his future endeavors. You probably didn't think I'd call him Joe's hot gradson to his face did you. hee.


I cannot relay how truly incredible this experience was. This was our directors last Center Stage show, and I hope we made it a good one for him.