The Santos Manuel Student Union Theater became a space of myth, memory, and warning with the premiere of SkyWomen, a multimedia performance conceived and performed by Isabella Madrigal, on September 17. The morning program began with the stage production, set in the fall of the year 2200, and closed with an early screening of scenes from the forthcoming short film Menil and Her Heart, creating a dialogue between ancestral stories and present-day crisis.
Live flute music by Brian Woodward set an intimate tone as the play unfolded. SkyWomen follows a grandmother, played by Renda Madrigal, who is a biochemist wrestling with the planet’s ecological collapse. Her granddaughter, portrayed by Isabella Madrigal, tends to her while confronting both family loss and an uncertain future. They are joined by 7G, a cyborg played by Maritza Zaragoza-Castellano, whose neural framework carries the memories of the granddaughter’s own deceased child. The three share a layered relationship that bridges science, grief, and the possibility of renewal.
Toward the end of the play, a video appears as part of the narrative: the grandmother has recorded the Ojibwe creation story for her granddaughter. The projected sequence shows a world covered in water, where animals dive again and again until a muskrat finally retrieves the mud that allows land to grow. This blend of live action and recorded myth deepens the theme of resilience, connecting ancient wisdom to a fragile future.
Between the play and the screening, Renda Madrigal invited the audience to break into pairs for a brief but striking exercise. One person imagined themselves in 2025 and the other in 2225, then shared answers to three questions about the current climate crisis and the planet’s future. The exercise turned the audience into active participants, reinforcing the morning’s call for reflection and action.
After a short pause, the lights dimmed again for Menil and Her Heart, presented as a work in progress. The film’s montage of scenes depicted the attack and kidnapping of an Indigenous woman and the desperate search by her sister. Their journey reaches beyond the physical world, culminating in a reunion within the mythical Starworld of Anishinaabe tradition. Though incomplete, the footage carried a raw urgency, echoing the epidemic of violence against Indigenous women that too often remains invisible.
Madrigal explained her creative spark: “I started the process by going back to the Ojibwe/Anishinaabe creation story, and all of that begins with Sky Woman, and really centers her.” She added regarding the climate crisis, “I think a lot of solutions can be found in our creation stories and in our culture stories and how we can fit that into the conversation.”
What lingers after the final bow is an invitation to action. Madrigal emphasized that Indigenous culture offers more than history, it offers a way forward. “Indigenous peoples, our culture and our ways of knowing and our ways of life,” she said, “are so important for moving forward.” That knowledge begins with relationships: “Our understanding of our relationship with plant relatives and animal relatives is essential. We are all connected.” She pointed to the Anishinaabe idea of “all my relations” as a guide for the future, adding that meaningful change “starts by listening and learning and sharing these stories.”Together, the two pieces offered a continuum: creation and survival, ancient resilience and modern peril. Madrigal’s performance invited the audience to listen, learn, and recognize the knowledge carried by Indigenous women as essential to both environmental stewardship and the fight against violence. With the completed short film slated for release soon on social media and the project’s website, SkyWomen stands as both a work of art and a call for attention that extends beyond the theater.
