Native Performing Arts Network nurtures new plays by Native writers * Oregon ArtsWatch

"“A lot of people think it wasn't investigated properly,” Studi told ArtsWatch. That's a tragically common occurrence in the lives of many Native Americans, she told her father, who, like many survivors of the often terrible boarding schools for Native Americans, “didn't like to talk about the bad things,” she says."

"“Do you remember your cousin Mary Lou?” he asked Studi. “The one who moved away when I was a little girl?” “Actually,” he said, “she didn't move away.” The family had told Studi that her cousin been found dead, her death ruled a suicide even though she'd been bound. They didn't think little DeLanna was old enough to handle such devastating news."

"Shocked by the revelation, Studi rethought her play and rewrote it. “Before, I had a safe distance” from such tragedies, she says. “But now I realized that I couldn't keep a safe distance if I wanted to tell the story” of missing and murdered Indigenous women."

"That personal history and information from her family informed Studi's revisions of her play, and, she believes, was a major reason it became a 2026 finalist for the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the oldest and largest playwriting prize for female play writers - the first time a Native playwright received that honor in the prize's 48-year history."

DeLanna Studi created I is for Invisible after a Native friend died under circumstances ruled an accidental fall, with concerns that the death was not properly investigated. She later learned that her cousin Mary Lou had been found dead and that the family had been told her death was a suicide even though she had been bound. Studi’s father, shaped by experiences of Native boarding schools, avoided discussing such events, but the revelation shocked her and led her to rewrite the play. Studi connected these experiences to the broader pattern of missing and murdered Indigenous women and believed her personal history helped the play become a Susan Smith Blackburn Prize finalist.

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