NPX Weekly Round-Up: Quantum by Tara Moses

A modern mystery concerning adoption, colonization, Indigenous culture, and the Missing and Murdering Indigenous Relatives crisis, plus three other plays I found this week.

May 19, 2025

I have quite the list of plays to cover in the coming weeks (another subscriber request as well as some pieces I’ve been meaning to read for a few months), but when presented with an unexpectedly free morning this past Friday, I decided to read a longer one I’ve had in mind for a few weeks. I’ve covered so many short plays recently, I figured it was time for a change-up.

A literary manager-adjacent person once told me that they didn’t read any play submitted to them that was over 90 pages long. Ever since then I’ve been very conscious of my page counts! Though through recent experiences with other managers and admins, I’ve heard this is some bullshit and as long as a play is under 120 pages you’re good. This particular play is 118 pages, and it utilizes ever one of them effectively.

Here is the summary of Quantum by Tara Moses from NPX:

Ivy Johnson was adopted in the fall of 1998 to a Mexican American mother and an African American father. Although it's obvious that she's of color, she has never known where she comes from or her racial background - that is until she sorts through her mail at Thanksgiving. The following weeks come with major discoveries, but they only leave her with more questions. What makes someone Native? A blood quantum mandate demanded by the Federal Government? Culture, language, and pride? What does it mean when your identity is stripped away from you? Rediscovering culture, reclaiming Indigenous identity, and learning what it means to be a Native woman in contemporary America is the road Ivy must travel. Inspired by my maternal grandfather's story.

This play was a Finalist for the O’Neill Playwright’s Conference twice (2020 and 2021) and it’s easy to see why. Moses expertly weaves together non-linear scenes with sobering facts and Indigenous cultural touchstones in a way that doesn’t feel expositional or preachy. And if you’re unfamiliar with Indigenous history in North America or the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women/Relatives crisis, you’ll learn a lot.

The play starts on Thanksgiving where we see two families enjoying the holiday. One is the Johnsons, a multicultural family created through adoption, and the other is a stereotypical white American family. Both discuss culture and family as they eat. Afterwards Ivy, the Johnson’s youngest, goes through her mail and discovers that now that she is twenty-one, she can access her original birth certificate and adoption records.

The children from the white family seen at the top of the play turn out to be Ivy’s roommate, Amanda, and her brother, Michael. Michael is studying anthropology in graduate school, and so Amanda connects Ivy with him to help her find her birth parents’ ethnicities. Michael then connects Ivy with his classmate, Tamara, who ends up guiding Ivy through a journey of identity and Native culture. There’s a big twist here, which I won’t reveal, but trust that it is well done and shocking.

This play covers not only how colonization still effects Indigenous people as a whole, but how it effects individuals— their relationships, identity, schooling, and more. Tamara introduces Ivy not only to her cultural heritage, but to the traumatic events their people experienced and continue to experience due to colonization and racism. This is where, if you are not aware of it already, you will learn about the boarding schools the government forced Indigenous children into for over a century as well as the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women/Relatives crisis. Both are explored as historical facts that continue to hang over their entire community as well as events that personally effected the characters’ families.

Just in case you were unaware— murder is the third leading cause of death for Indigenous women. More than 4 in 5 Native women will experience violence in their lifetime. More than half will or have experienced domestic or sexual violence. And the perpetrators? 96% of the time, they’re not Native. What about when Indigenous women are found dead or go missing? Well, cases are drastically under-investigated. In 2016, 5,712 cases of missing American and Alaskan Native women were reported, yet only 116 were logged in NamU.

Ivy has a direct relation to this crisis, as does Tamara. How this event trickles down to them is heartbreaking and identity shattering. It’s a close-up look at one of the many, many ways this country has mistreated Indigenous peoples, and how it continues to do so.

This is once again a great example of “writing small”. Instead of writing About The Issue of colonialism and the MMIW crisis, Moses shows how this larger than life problem effects everyday people. She shows how large cultural experiences are synthesized by the individuals within said culture in a masterful way, not only showing how serious and impactful these experiences are, but how much they mean to people.

When Tamara and Ivy bond with each other over making fry bread, it’s a soul touching experience for not only them, but the audience reading or watching. We see two women not only connecting with each other and the culture that they share, but with their community. And that’s something anybody can relate to. We all have cultural traditions, experiences, and trauma. What we need to assess is how those experiences effect our worldviews, and if those worldviews are helpful or harmful to communities outside of ours. Colonialism is not a thing of the past. It is here, effecting the everyday experiences of many people across the world. And it is our duty (especially if you’re white like me) to educate ourselves about it!

This play is a moving piece, giving a glimpse into the lives of Native women in academia as well as in community spaces. It does so without judgement or sanctimoniousness. Tamara especially is honest, not only with Ivy but with the audience. And honesty can be uncomfortable, vulnerable, or hard. And perhaps that is what makes it all the more important. Art needs, no, craves honesty. Quantum, above all things, is honest. That’s one of the things that makes it such a strong piece.

Here is my official recommendation from NPX:

An incredibly honest and poignant story about culture, identity, colonialism, and misogyny. Moses manages to tackle so many different themes in a way that doesn't feel cluttered! We need more plays that discuss Native culture, identity, and experiences like this one does. I found Ivy's journey towards learning about her family and culture incredibly soul-touching.

What did you think of this play? Let me know in the comments!

Research:

https://www.nativehope.org/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-mmiw/

https://www.ncai.org/section/vawa/overview/key-statistics

https://mivan.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/MMIWIR-Fact-Sheet_4-21-23.pdf

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