After her daughter goes missing, a mother reaches beyond her human limits to try and find her. Can’t Drink Salt Water asks, where do we go when we can’t stay in our bodies?
In partnership with Montana Repertory Theatre, WMPAC presents a staged reading of a new play by Kendra Mylnechuk Potter. The live reading of Can’t Drink Saltwater in Big Sky is directed by Lisa Rothe, and features actors Paige Brantley, Serenity Mariana, Kyla Garcia, Brick Patrick, Rosie, and Rosie Hallett.
Can’t Drink Salt Water was commissioned by Montana Repertory Theatre and the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center in 2021. After the staged reading in Big Sky, the play will continue its development journey in Missoula this fall, and the official premiere will take place at the Montana Repertory Theatre’s home base in the Spring of 2025, followed by a statewide tour around Montana.
About the Playwright: Kendra Mylnechuck Potter
Kendra is a theatre artist and filmmaker currently based in Missoula, MT, and enrolled citizen of the Lummi Nation. Her film performances have screened at Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, NY Human Rights Watch, and other festivals around the world. She won best actor in NBC/Universal Pictures Short Cuts Film Festival. The New York Times has called her “a skilled collaborator.” NY theatre includes both off and off-off Broadway venues. Regional work includes a national tour as Shelby in Steel Magnolias for MT Rep, and other productions in LA, OR, and MT. She developed a theatre and storytelling program at N’Kwusm Salish language school with William Yellowrobe, has created and implemented curriculum for Missoula County Public School’s Sparks program on Native American Studies using theatre in education techniques, and has presented work as a keynote and panelist at national and international conferences on personal storytelling, race, creative writing, Native representation, and literary study. In 2015, she co-founded MT+NYC Collaborative, and directed two of the company’s first productions: “The Woodstove” and “Dido of Idaho,” and performed in “The Wolf” before co-writing and performing the titular role in “The Buffalo Play,” which enjoyed its premiere in NY in the 2019 season at The Tank. She helps facilitate annual writing retreats for all genres with MT+NYC Collaborative. Kendra is the producer and protagonist of a documentary called DAUGHTER OF A LOST BIRD about her adoption and reunion with her birth mother and Lummi heritage, which played in festivals around the world, and is currently available on PBS’ America ReFramed and World Channel.
About Montana Repertory Theatre
Established in 1967 and currently celebrating its 56th season, The Rep serves as the resident professional theatre for the University of Montana. Montana Repertory Theatre stands at the cross-section of educational and professional theatre, producing work that celebrates, engages and challenges the people of Missoula and the state of Montana.
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