Colorado College was among theatres across the country to host a National Day of Theater Readings for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives (MMIWR) on Tuesday, May 5, 2026.
This nationwide event was coordinated by the Native Performing Arts Network (NPAN) and corresponds with the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW). May 5 has been designated as a National Day of Awareness for MMIW since 2017, in response to the rape and murder of Hanna Harris of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, as well as the murders of other Indigenous women across the United States and Canada.
This event is part of the movement raise awareness of the violence that Indigenous people in North America face. There are several acronyms that refer to this movement, including MMIR, MMIW, and MMIWR.
“The event was designed to inform the CC campus and community about this crisis which disproportionally affects Indian country,” says CC’s Elder-in-Residence Debbie Howell. “With the display and film screening, we hoped to raise awareness about MMIWR and that action is being taken by communities to help improve legislation, data collection, and justice. We hope those in our audience learned this is a major crisis within urban and reservation areas, and hope they will continue to stay up to date with this issue and be a vocal and supportive ally.”
In collaboration with the screening and readings, the Fine Arts Center hosted an educational display about the movement from May 1 through 8.
On May 5, theaters across the United States hosted staged readings of works by Indigenous playwrights, as well as offered educational displays and conversations. In Colorado Springs, community members gathered on campus to watch a film screening of Somebody’s Daughter, as well as participate in companion events to the screening, including performances, readings, and talks by visiting artists, members of the Indigenous community, and CC’s Native American Student Union(NASU).
Attendees saw a stage reading of Marcie Rendon's Say Their Names, a monologue by Amber K. Ball, virtual artist in residence, and Jeff Barehand and Jaisey Bates' Never Be Afraid, and watched performances by visiting Indigenous, Native American, and Latinx artists, including W. Fran Astorga, R. Réal Vargas Alanis, Ixtlán, and Angela Hernandez.
“The purpose of these events is to honor the Indigenous Women and relatives who have been lost and raise awareness for this epidemic of missing loved ones,” says Assistant Professor of Theatre & Dance Shannon R. Davis. “It's a call to action. But in order to act, one has to feel compelled. These theatre readings that I helped to put on raise awareness that can lead to empathy and action.”
Davis directed Say Their Names, and students in her class were among the students who participated in readings.
“A lot of what inspired our performance was community,” says Nelson Knoche ’29, one of the students who did a reading. “It was, and still is, Indigenous women and their communities who started the MMIW movement, so we really wanted to highlight that in our performances.”
To do that, Knoche and his classmates utilized group readings and movements to put an emphasis on working together and making sure people are not alone in their struggles.
“The best way we can make a positive change around this issue is if we work together,” Knoche adds. “Because of that, there was only one monologue performed solo; everything else was based on community and performing together.”
Ella Boyd Brocker ’27 was the assistant producer and choreographer for Say Their Names.
“Being part of a national movement of artists, storytellers, and performers who are raising awareness around the ongoing legacies of settler colonial, genocidal ideologies, policies and complacency is deeply important,” Brocker says. “Nothing we do is not political, in that everything we do impacts others. I want to pay attention to how I can use my gifts, my work, my relationships with others to move people into greater awareness of themselves as a part of a whole.”
Lincoln Brewer ’29, who read Voice Seven in Say Their Names, says getting to tell stories that are often ignored was a powerful opportunity.
“I hope campus and community members truly feel more informed on the atrocities that plague this country and know that to make change; action is imperative,” Brewer says.
CC’s film screening event was sponsored by NASU, Debbie Howell, Institutional Equity and Belonging, and the Indigenous community at CC. The theatre readings were sponsored by the Cultural Events Fund, and partnered with the HEC, the Fine Arts Center, Theatre & Dance, and Indigenous artists and faculty members.
