“Four Little Injuns,” produced as part of the Drama Graduate Student Showcase, examines the portrayals of Native Americans on film and on stage, showing how stereotypical “Indian” characters continually force out real Native characters and their true stories.

“Injuns” opens on a Broadway show rehearsal for a play that features Native American characters. The stage manager, four actors and a tech crew member are rehearsing for “Twilight—The Musical,” featuring characters including Jacob Black, Pocahontas, Chief Wahoo and Grandma Willow. The rehearsal is quickly interrupted when four actual Native Americans wander into the space looking for an author to write their story. After some resistance, the stage manager decides to direct their story for the stage, already seeing the interpersonal drama unfold between the four Natives. Through their retelling, we learn the tragic story of one of the Native’s relation with his two troubled children and the man’s mother (the children’s grandmother).

The dark story unfolds while the non-Native actors watch and attempt to re-present the stories on their own. The Natives grow frustrated with the actors’ stereotypical representations and the censuring the stage manager attempts to impose on the controversial subject matter. The actors and stage manager, meanwhile, find themselves at odds with how Natives are usually presented on stage versus the actual Natives and the real stories they are presenting.

The script for “Injuns” was written and directed by Myrton Running Wolf, a drama Ph.D. student and Native American. The script for the piece is complex and socially pointed, carefully weaving the tragic story of one Native family along with ideas about dilemmas in portraying Natives on the stage, on TV and in film. In his director’s note, Running Wolf acknowledges that the script was loosely adapted from Luigi Pirandello’s famous “Six Characters in Search of an Author,” the title of which explains the connection. Like in “Six Characters,” the four characters in “Injuns” are not real people, but they do have real stories to tell.

While Running Wolf’s script is strong, the production falls short of achieving its power and poignancy. Each of the actors has strong moments in the show, but characters fade when they are not the focus of the action. One notable performance comes from undergraduate Rachel RoseFigura ‘13, who gives a hilarious performance as “Pocahontas.”  RoseFigura’s role offers welcomed comic relief in an often-dark piece.

Running Wolf also acts in the piece, playing the Native American father, and the fact that he plays a role serves as a possible explanation for the general lack of direction in the piece as a whole. Actors seem to move with little certainty or specificity. Much of the movement and choreography feels forced and confused, and the dialogue runs at a sloppy pace; the actors often overlap lines, and several pauses seem to go on longer than originally intended.

In terms of technical elements, “Injuns” is fairly simple. The set is a simple, bare rehearsal studio. The costumes, like the set, are primarily rehearsal or street clothing, with the exception of a stunning and elaborate “Indian” dress worn by RoseFigura. The dress is suggestive of a Pocahontas costume and is humorously mocked by the Native American daughter as a “buckskin Halloween stripper outfit.”

While the production feels under-rehearsed and largely unfocused, “Four Little Injuns” is honest and rich in its perspective on Native American characters and stories in theater and on stage. Running Wolf’s ideas are strong, and with a skilled and dedicated director, the script could really amount to a powerful show, giving Native Americans a play worthy of their history—just the kind of show the Native characters in “Injuns” so earnestly seek.

Four Little Injuns will play again in the Nitery Theater this Saturday at 8 p.m. Tickets are $5. Visit drama.stanford.edu for more information.