Event Dates – May 2025
Venue – Arkansas New Play Festival
Adapted by – Nina McConigley and Matthew Spangler
Cultural Consultant – Dr. Sukanya Chakrabarti

Event Website
Broadway World Colorado

Synopsis from Event Website – Artistic Statement: Cowboys and East Indians is co-adapted by Nina McConigley and Matthew Spangler from Nina’s award-winning collection of short stories by the same name. It follows the Sen family – the parents immigrated from India to Wyoming, where their daughter, Lucky, is born and raised – as they grapple with expectations, belonging, and the realities of rural life. It’s about family and trying to build community and a sense of identity in a place where you don’t see a reflection of yourself.
This play is not only a rare exploration of immigrant and second-generation experiences in rural communities, it subverts our image of the West. Especially at a time when many people have firm ideas about places and people, the laughter and heart in this play offer a fresh and unexpected perspective on the contemporary American West and the lives and communities that make up this region. –Leean Kim Torske, DCPA Director of Literary Programs