Creation story

Abstract art featuring a woman's face, mountain landscape, sun, and flower petals with the text 'creation story' in blue.

Creation Story is a Southwest-inspired musical that remixes the Hopi emergence tale through a Chicanofuturist lens, blending myth, migration, and environmental collapse with rancheras, baladas, and desert-born sounds. Set in a shape-shifting world of stone and light, the piece follows a writer and her unruly characters as they unravel the mysteries of creation, destruction, and cultural memory.

Creation Story will run for four weeks in December and January 2026 at
TEATRO CÍRCULO in New York City.

reserve your tickets here

Creation story team

  • ​Octavia Chavez-Richmond

    Playwright

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  • ​Jen Anaya

    Music Contributions

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  • CALYPSO MICHELET

    Designer

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Production history

In April 2025 Creation Story had developmental workshops at Playwrights Horizons Downtown and The Dance Theatre of Harlem made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature

Collage of six people, three in the top row and three in the bottom row, with leaf-patterned background. Top row: a smiling woman with curly black hair in an olive green top, a woman with straight dark hair in a blue sweater, and a man with short dark hair and facial hair in a black t-shirt. Bottom row: a man with dark hair and a leather jacket, a woman with curly hair and a turquoise top, and a woman with long dark hair in a black top.
Art installation with a sheer curtain featuring a mountain range design at the bottom and handwritten script on the top part.
A colorful bird with vibrant feathers, placed over an antique map or chart with Latin labels, creating a collage of natural and historical imagery.
A collage artwork with a maritime theme, featuring a large cluster of tropical birds and flowers emerging from a painted ocean scene on a grid background with a ship, sailboats, and navigational symbols.

Workshop design concepts by Calypso Michelet, Artwork from Firelei Baez’s Encyclopedia of Gestures

An art installation featuring a large intertwined tree made of moss, bark, and plant elements, with small photographs attached to the branches and ground moss, set against a white background with moss-covered wall panels.

CREATION STORY is made possible in part with funds from regrant programs supported by the funding agencies Howard Gilman Foundation and the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation (UMEZ) and administered by LMCC.

As well as by the Every Page Foundation, The Distracted Globe Foundation and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Production design support provided by the Edith Lutyens and Norman Bel Geddes Design Enhancement Fund, a program of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./New York).

Black silhouette of a person in a lab coat and face mask working with laboratory equipment in front of a chalkboard.
Text that reads 'I'M O'.
Text in blue cursive letters saying "Make your life better" on a black background.
Logo of the United States Department of the Environment and Development Corporation, featuring a stylized letter 'E' in blue and red, with black circular text around it.
Logo of the Alliance of Resident Theatres in New York, featuring bold black and red text.
Logo of the Every Page Foundation with purple and black text
Word 'Nasa' in stylized, multicolored letters.

 

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