Te Ata

In the early twentieth century, Mary Frances Thompson is being raised Chickasaw in the Chickasaw Nation on what would soon become the state of Oklahoma, she being one offspring of Thomas and Bertie Thompson, a native Chickasaw and an ethnic German respectively. Mary Frances has long been enthralled by the Chickasaw stories told to her predominantly by Thomas. Despite the hard work of Chickasaw Governor Douglas Johnston for federal support to preserve Chickasaw culture, the Chickasaw and other native groups face a difficult time as certain legislators, such as Senator Judd, work to assimilate natives groups into western ways. Thomas' want for his daughter is to gain a higher education, eventually to come home to teach the Chickasaw children after her. However, Mary Frances has other thoughts after encouragement from Miss Davis, one of her professors at the Oklahoma College for Women who becomes captivated by the performances of her Chickasaw stories. With Miss Davis' assistance to earn money through performances of those stories, Mary Frances has the goal to become an actress on Broadway. Being Chickasaw, Mary Frances faces obstacle after obstacle in achieving her goal, she, if given the opportunity, winning over many of the naysayers with her vivid performances, especially of those native stories. Balancing the want to become an actress on the western stage hopefully to color-blind audiences and embracing her heritage, she begins using the stage name Te Ata, something one of her elders called her when she was a child, it being Maori for "breaking of the dawn". Through her pursuit to become an actress while telling her native stories, Te Ata will eventually learn where her strongest calling lies within the spectrum.