It’s not exactly inaccurate to describe “Between Two Knees” as a play about American Indian history told through the experience of one indigenous family over several generations, from the massacre of 1890 at Wounded Knee to the American Indian Movement occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973 (Hence the title.)   But that misses its subversively comic tone (Look again at the title, for its bawdy pun.) If there are some well-acted, genuinely poignant scenes, the show is at heart sketch comedy, mixing pointed parody with silly slapstick, and  unafraid to be sophomoric, even when depicting atrocities.

“We’re going to make this fun,” says the Indian warrior we meet in the prologue who, in a preview of the goofy comedy to come, introduces himself as someone who over the centuries has gone by many names: Sitting Buffalo. Big Eagle. Punches Kittens. Bad Breath. Tickles Beaver. “But today, you can call me by my most sacred Indigenous name: Larry.”  As Larry, Justin Gauthier promises: “We’re going to talk about war and genocide and PTSD and molestation. So it’s ok to laugh.” 

Larry is our narrator in a dozen scenes that unfold over some 150 minutes (including an intermission), which include the massacre at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota, the abduction and forced “re-education” of Indian orphans at Catholic boarding schools, the drafting of Native Americans in World War II and Vietnam, to devastating effect, and the confrontation between law enforcement and Indian activists at Wounded Knee.  

The focus is on the Wolf family, Isaiah (Derek Garza when young, Wotko Long when older) and Irma (Shyla Lefner, then Sheila Tousey), who meet while imprisoned at the Catholic school, escape, fall in love, have a family, including William (Shaun Taylor-Corbett), who begets Eddie (Garza again.) Irene (Lefner again) figures in this family tree, but it becomes too convoluted to follow, or at least to take seriously. At one point, Larry admits that it’s a challenge to tell “the general story about Native America centered around this family,.. A LOT to cover. We touched on some stuff you probably didn’t even know about. Check it, we covered the Citizen’s Act, the Relocation Act, Native involvement in World War II. Fitting all that stuff into a play is NOT an easy task.” (Did they touch on the Citizen’s Act and the Relocation Act? I somehow missed that.)

Along the way, we’re treated to a Wheel of Fortune-like Wheel of Indian Massacres, a chorus line of dancing devious nuns and other highly-choreographed musical comedy numbers,  slow-motion kung fu fights,  daffy cartoons and perky puppets, a wedding overseen by a drug-addled old hippie,  a visit by space aliens, a “Native American Birthing Ceremony” that seems at first more a spoof of The Lion King, until Irma says “We bathe this child in the tears of a thousand white women named Karen, gathered at their most vulnerable, during their 911 calls against black families” – one of a multitude of white people jokes. The show mocks Native Americans almost as often. 

“Between Two Knees,” which was first produced at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2019 and made the rounds of regional theaters before landing now at PAC NYC,  marked the theatrical debut of the five-member indigenous comedy troupe that call themselves The 1491s (their title being the year before Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World.) The group came to fame making funny YouTube videos, but graduated to co-create (Sterlin Harjo) and serve in the writers’ room (the other four) of  “Reservation Dogs.”  I loved that Hulu series, which finished its third and final season last year.  It told the story of four Indigenous teenagers in a small town of the Muscogee Nation in rural Oklahoma, with a mix of comedy and drama. I found the humor hilarious – sometimes as over-the-top as the humor in this play, but more often rooted in the reality of the characters. I also found the drama in the series moving – which is less often the case in “Between Two Knees.” But, amid all the playful chaos, there are some touching moments in this play, especially between Isaiah and Irma, a testament to the skill of the quartet of actors who portray them. One, Sheila Tousey, played a proud Lenape mother in the far more straightforward “Manahatta,” another play by a Native American playwright that originated at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and wound up in New York, late last year. Both were commissioned by PAC NYC’s artistic director Bill Rauch when he was artistic director of OSF, and, as different as they are, both offer something new – along with The Thanksgiving Play on Broadway last year and Where We Belong the year before – the opportunity for New York theatergoers to begin to experience the breadth and depth of Native American theatrical talent.

Between Two Knees
PACNYC through February 24
Running time: 2 hours and 30 minutes, with one intermission.
Tickets: $29-$84
Tickets are free for members of the Native and Indigenous community
Written by the 1491s (Dallas Goldtooth, Sterlin Harjo, Migizi Pensoneau, Ryan Redcorn,  and Bobby Wilson.)
Directed by Eric Ting
Choreography by Ty Defoe, original choreography by Shaun Taylor-Corbett, scenic design by Regina García, costume design by Lux Haac, lighting design by Elizabeth Harper, sound design by Jake Rodriguez, projection design by Shawn Duan, wig and hair design by Younghawk Bautista, original songs by Ryan RedCorn, dramaturg Julie Felise Dubiner, fight director Rod Kinter
Cast: Rachel Crowl, Derek Garza as Young Isaiah and Eddie, Justin Gauthier as Larry, Irma-Estel Laguerre, Shyla Lefner as Young Irma, Wotko Long as Older Isaiah, Jessica Ranville, James Ryen,