LA JOLLA, CALIF.: La Jolla Playhouse has announced Native Voices as its 2016–17 resident theatre company. The resident theatre program, led by artistic director Christopher Ashley, aims to encourage the artistic development of rising performing arts organizations, and to advance the theatre scene in San Diego and Southern California.

“Having worked with Native Voices for nearly a decade on their annual Festival of New Plays, it’s extremely gratifying to forge a deeper relationship with them as our latest resident theatre company and help them expand their roots in the San Diego community,” Ashley said in a statement.

Based at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, Native Voices focuses on developing work by Native American, Alaska Native, and First Nations playwrights. As part of the residency, La Jolla Playhouse will present Native Voices at the Autry National Center‘s production of They Don’t Talk Back (May 27–June 19), by Frank Henry Kaash Katasse (Tlingit). The play is about a troubled teen from a broken home who receives the culture shock of a lifetime when he is sent to live with his Tlingit grandparents in a remote fishing village in Alaska. Randy Reinholz (Choctaw), cofounder of Native Voices and La Jolla Playhouse council member, will direct. It will be presented in association with Perserverance Theatre in Douglas, Alaska.

La Jolla Playhouse, founded in 1947, is recognized for its commitment to developing new work through artist residencies, commissions, and new-play development initiatives. The resident theatre program is part of La Jolla Playhouse’s overall commitment to fostering artistic relationships and the development of new work.