National Day of Theater Readings
for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives
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Date
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
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Location
Arena Stage
1101 Sixth Street SW
Washington, DC 20024
Join the DC Theater Community for a national day of storytelling, remembrance, and action
May 5 marks the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives (MMIWR). As part of a nationwide initiative led by the Native Performing Arts Network, theaters across the country host readings of plays by Native writers that illuminate the ongoing crisis of violence against Indigenous communities.
In solidarity, Arena Stage, Mosaic Theater Company, Theater Alliance, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company come together to honor this day—amplifying Indigenous voices, raising awareness, and standing collectively in support of justice and remembrance here in Washington, DC.
Event Schedule
6:00PM: Community Conversation & Indigenous Marketplace
Molly Smith Study & Bank of American Lower Lobby
7:30PM: Reading of Quantum
Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle
Reserve complimentary tickets here
Quantum
Written and Directed by Tara Moses
Ivy Johnson was adopted in the fall of 1998 to a Mexican American mother and an African American father. Although it's obvious that she's of color, she has never known where she comes from or her racial background - that is until she sorts through her mail at Thanksgiving. The following weeks come with major discoveries, but they only leave her with more questions. What makes someone Native? A blood quantum mandate demanded by the Federal Government? Culture, language, and pride? What does it mean when your identity is stripped away from you? Rediscovering culture, reclaiming Indigenous identity, and learning what it means to be a Native woman in contemporary America is the road Ivy must travel. Inspired by Moses's maternal grandfather's story.
Quantum contains discussions of physical and sexual violence against Native women including murder, depictions of physical violence against a Native woman, allusions to sexual assault, conversation about boarding schools, and racist language.