“In many ways, this work has been the project of my entire life. My great-grandfather Mark Penoi attended Carlisle Indian School. He, my grandfather, and my father attended and taught at Indian residential schools, with assimilation as the schools' primary aim. My father and I worked hard to break the cycle of intergenerational trauma that my family inherited. He spoke at the 2003 dedication ceremony for a state marker on the site of the former school, placed near the cemetery where many Indian children had died. Among his reflections, this quote stood out to me: "Have our voices become more clear in pointing up the danger from those who bring sorrow?  Who is watching, watching for the weak minded who would speak with the words of the strong and create a sorrow that lasts for generations? That is my question." Now, in this second Trump presidency, these words feel prescient. This musical is my ancestral calling to gather us - Native and non-Native - to reckon with and heal from the poison of the past, and to leverage the truths of these experiences to prepare us to face the divisive forces of assimilation, otherness, and pain that similarly seek to divide us now.”