COLUMBUS, Ga. – Tara Moses, a citizen of the Seminole Nation with Muscogee (Creek) heritage, didn’t expect to get into theater growing up. As a child, she mostly saw theater as an escape from being the only Indigenous kid she knew at school in Tulsa. She had no idea that her after school activities at the Tulsa Spotlight Theatre would lead to a career, let alone lead her to direct a play at the historic Springer Opera House. The Columbus, GA theater has hosted legends such as Oscar Wilde, Ethel Barrymoore, and John Phillip Sousa.
Moses spoke to Mvskoke Media’s LiveWire on March 25 about her life in theater and her latest project, “The Mvskoke Project.”
The play, written by Moses and Bailey Huerta, Mvnte C. Jones, Rose Landrum, Lea McCormick, Eri Nox, Stacy Pratt and James Whitecloud is the sum of four years of work. It centers around three generations of a Mvskoke family, the Fixico family, and its matriarch, the grandmother Lahoma, who is soon to pass on from this world. What follows is a number of tales from the family, both old and new, who have returned to honor the legacy of their family’s leader. These tales range from the supernatural, such as ghosts, dreams, and visions, to memories of family and entertaining stories, including a retelling of a Muscogee creation story by one of the characters, a trickster known as Cvfe. “The play is about homecoming,” Moses said on LiveWire.
Moses and The Mvskoke Project tell just one of the many stories of Muscogee heritage and history in conjunction with the Muscogee Homecoming, a regional celebration of the area’s original inhabitants. The Muscogee Homecoming will be part of a multi-day event. It will include a tour at Fort Mitchell, where some 15,000 Muscogee people were gathered before being forced from their lands, a community forum, and plays from Moses and Mary Kathryn Nagle. A delegation from the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, including Secretary of Culture & Humanities Raelynn Butler, will also attend.
A portion of the royalties from the show will directly support the Muscogee Language Revitalization Program at the College of the Muscogee Nation. The funds will support the preservation of culture, heritage, and sovereignty of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation by spreading knowledge of its language and people.
“The Mvskoke Project” will be hosted at the Springer Opera House in downtown Columbus, GA from April 3 to 13.
For showtimes and additional information on the play, visit springeroperahouse.org or call the Springer Opera House’s box office at 706-327-3688.
Congratulations girl keep up good vibes