About this submission

When teenage Menil, an aspiring singer-songwriter, begs her sister Nesune to drive her from the Cahuilla Reservation to a vocal competition in LA, Nesune refuses. That night, Menil sneaks out. She never makes it back. Haunted by the fight that pushed Menil to go alone, Nesune and her family search tirelessly to find her. While wandering the hills near their home, Nesune hears her sister’s song echoing from a pond and is pulled into the Star World. Here, Nesune finally listens, witnessing Menil’s love for music and for her. As dawn breaks, Nesune returns home to carry Menil’s story forward.

Isabella Madrigal

Creator

Isabella Dionne Madrigal (Cahuilla/Turtle Mountain Ojibwe) is a writer, director, and actor. She is a 2025 Sundance Native Lab Fellow and co-leads the Luke Madrigal Indigenous Storytelling Nonprofit. A graduate of Harvard College, she is a recipient of the Yale Young Native Playwrights Contest, the Center for Native American Youth’s Champion for Change Award, and the First Peoples Fund’s Native Performing Arts Fellowship. Her play MENIL AND HER HEART was recently included on Native Theater Project’s list of 15 recommended #MMIR plays. Her work often centers ancestral wisdom, healing, and Indigenous futurisms. more...