Laura Shamas
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laurashamas.bsky.social
Laura Shamas
@laurashamas.bsky.social
780 followers 1.4K following 1.1K posts
Writer. Ph.D. www.laurashamas.com. I’m a Chickasaw Nation citizen. #postcardstovoters To buy my play FOUR WOMEN IN RED: https://www.broadwayplaypublishing.com/the-plays/four-women-in-red/. 🇺🇦
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laurashamas.bsky.social
VOTE! 🗳️
The CA round “I Voted” sticker: top half is dark blue with white stars and red stripes of the flag. The second half is “I Voted” in 12 other languages.
November 4, 2025 at 6:20 PM
laurashamas.bsky.social
Enjoyed being at the Nat’l Aviary last night, and meeting an African penguin ambassador named Wyatt. Aviary.org
Late afternoon. Cloudy skies. Four black and white African penguins in a rocky outdoor penguin enclosure at aviary.org. One on the back left faces away from the camera. One in the center, with part of a side profile, looks at the one in the back. A third on the right fully faces the camera. Another one peaks around behind him on the back right.
October 25, 2025 at 3:45 AM
laurashamas.bsky.social
Fallingwater today!
Iconic view of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater. https://fallingwater.org/
October 24, 2025 at 7:55 PM
laurashamas.bsky.social
Monday, Oct. 13 is Indigenous People’s Day. I started celebrating early by seeing HAUNTED by Tara Moses at Native Voices! If in LA, don’t miss it! #LANDBACK
The cover of the program for “Haunted” by Tara Moses, produced by Native Voices and Greenway Court Theater (at Gteenway Court). Directed by DeLanna Studi and Jennifer Bobiwash. . Dates: Oct. 10 - 28. In a dark blue light, there’s a “FOR SALE” sign, and in the center, a mostly dark white house, with a light on in an upper right window, and on the front door.
October 13, 2025 at 1:27 AM
laurashamas.bsky.social
I spent some time in a pumpkin patch today. I recommend it!
A sunny day with shadows from trees! A large field. A center path of dirt and straw veers through hundreds of orange pumpkins. There’s a large picnic table twenty-five feet back, in the center, with more pumpkins on it. In the far distance on the left, a green jeep with orange pumpkins is visible. White/grey varieties are on the ground on the far right side, with yellow haystacks (3stacks high) featuring more pumpkins in back of that.
October 5, 2025 at 3:42 AM
laurashamas.bsky.social
#FilmSky #Halloween
NIGHT TIDE. This eerie 1961 film, written and directed by Curtis Harrington, features
Dennis Hopper’s 1st big film role. A mermaid (or a siren), a witch, murdered boyfriends in the past—add to this, a besotted sailor. Remastered in 2020. Much was filmed in Santa Monica.
Show poster for NIGHT TIDE. In a dark blue background, at the sea’s edge, we see a woman’s back (she wears a dark navy dress and her dark hair is up) but her outstretched right hand is green and clawlike. In yellow font (the color of moonbeams?): “Night Tide. eerie strange macabre. Lovers caught in a dark tide of sinister terror.” Cast listed: Dennis Hopper, Linda Lawson as Mora, Luana Anders, Gavin Muir. Produced by Aram Kantarian. Written and directed by Curtis Harrington. Filmed in 1961. Released in 1963.
September 20, 2025 at 7:07 AM
laurashamas.bsky.social
In honor of Robert Redford, from ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN (1976). Deep Throat (Hal Holbrook) says to Woodward (Redford) in the film: “The truth is, these are not very bright guys…”
Woodward meets Deep Throat in a parking garage in “All the President’s Men“ (1976). The back of Hal Holbrook’s head, in shadow in left forefront. Full view of Robert Redford looking at him, with concern.
September 16, 2025 at 3:24 PM
laurashamas.bsky.social
I’ve made some notes through the years on images of “the strongman” in the 21st century from an archetypal POV. (I shared a few in my free July e-newsletter.) Many here think the problem is just “going to go away” somehow because of this American strongman-conman imprint in our collective psyche.
A still of Frank Morgan (Oz) in the 1939 MGM film “The Wizard of Oz,” saying, after promising to help Dorothy return home, but flying away instead: “I can’t come back! I don’t know how it works!” He is 20 feet above the Emerald City crowd, in a checkered green and tan hot air balloon box. Emerald City citizens below him wear a lot of green, which is the dominant color of the still.
September 7, 2025 at 4:20 PM
laurashamas.bsky.social
Is it too soon to talk about Haunted House movies? This one from 1953 features Ida Lupino as “Agnes,” a lone caretaker in a sprawling ghostly estate in the wild, isolated country atmosphere of—-Montecito. Lots of scary shadows. Cinematography: the legendary James Wong Howe. Director: Joel Newton
Poster for the 1953 theatrical release of JENNIFER starring Ida Lupino & Howard Duff. Yellow is the major color here, and the title is in red, in cursive. In the poster, Howard Duff has his hands around Ida Lupino’s throat. Copy on the poster: “Did Jennifer Fear His Fingers at Her Throat…or the burning caress of his lips?” (By the way, Lupino is not playing the character of Jennifer in the film. Her character is Agnes.)
August 18, 2025 at 4:40 AM
laurashamas.bsky.social
“The Thief,” starring Ray Milland. I saw this 1952 film this week—notable because it has absolutely no dialogue. Several scenes are set in the Library of Congress, & the Empire State Building. It’s about guilt, betrayal of country, surveillance, espionage. It highlights mid-20th century tradecraft.
Image of Ray Milland in a brown trench coat and brown fedora, with a black background. A woman’s eyes are in large shadows above him on the right side, representing surveillance. The words on the poster include the cast (names of Martin Gabel and Rita Gam), and the phrase “Excitement Beyond Words.” A Harry Popkins Production. Directed by Russell Rouse (also co-author with Clarence Greene.)
August 6, 2025 at 2:57 PM
laurashamas.bsky.social
ReproEco plays with dance! Sept. 19 & 20! At Culture Lab LIC, Long Island City. Free admission! Produced by MultiStages & ReproFreedomArts. RSVP needed: www.eventbrite.com/e/reproeco-s...
Blue poster, with drawing of 6 women’s faces. “SIX short plays written by six fabulous women connect our reproductive health and the environment. Through humor, mythology, Afro-futurism, dance and drama, we look at toxins, our bodies, our communities & our futures. Presented by MultiStages, September 19, 2025 at 7PM ReproFreedomArts.org & Culture Lab LIC September 20, 2025 at 3:30 PM”
August 1, 2025 at 10:08 PM
laurashamas.bsky.social
Poulnabrone Dolmen, 2013, Ireland
“Poulnabrone dolmen consists of a slab-like tabular capstone (or table-stone) supported by two pillar stones on either side which create a chamber that tapers eastwards. Two portal stones at its lower end mark the tomb's entrance.”
June 21, 2025 at 10:55 PM
laurashamas.bsky.social
Happy 🎂 to this person!
A sepia photo of a young Laura Shamas, in a plaid shirt and jeans, with her baby sister on her legs.
June 21, 2025 at 7:31 AM
laurashamas.bsky.social
Love these new Powwow stamps from USPS! 4 Original paintings of Native American dancers by Cochiti Pueblo artist Mateo Romero. Beautiful! #USPS
From USPS.com: “The artist took photographs of four different dancers in traditional clothing performing his or her dance against a brightly colored background that highlights the dancer’s shaping and movement. He then painted on top of the photographs with thick, brightly colored brushstrokes to create the abstract expressionistic images gracing the stamps.”
June 5, 2025 at 10:29 PM
laurashamas.bsky.social
So excited!
Cover of “Four Women In Red” by Laura Shamas, published by Broadway Play Publishing. Black background, with Artwork by Nipinet Landsem. Four Indigenous Women look to the left, in profile, surrounded by colorful flowers. The Broadway Play Publishing logo is at the top.
June 4, 2025 at 11:13 PM
laurashamas.bsky.social
Don’t worry. These elephant seals are just tired from swimming thousands of miles. #MontereyBayMarineSanctuary
MontereyBay.NOAA.gov
200-300 Elephant seals at a rookery lying on a sandy beach on the CA central coast. They are different colors and sizes: greys, browns, golds.
May 22, 2025 at 7:33 AM
laurashamas.bsky.social
I spent some time with elephant seals today. They were very vocal.
200-300 tired elephant seals lying on a sandy beach on a CA central coast rookery. They are many different colors and sizes: grey, white, brown, golden, juveniles, adults.
May 21, 2025 at 1:39 AM
laurashamas.bsky.social
If you see this, post a beach photo from your phone.
Santa Monica, CA.
Will Rogers State Beach.
Sunset at Will Rogers State Beach, Fall 2024. Santa Monica, CA. An orange dot on the horizon line, reflected in two blue ocean waves, cresting white on wave tops, lapping to the shore at dusk.
May 14, 2025 at 5:31 AM
laurashamas.bsky.social
My full-length play FOUR WOMEN IN RED is currently posted on @newplayexchange.bsky.social , in a list of MMIR plays curated by @jeanetteharrison.bsky.social . It will be published this summer by Broadway Play Publishing. It’s available for free for a few days right now.
Show poster artwork by Nipinet Landsem for the play FOUR WOMEN IN RED by Laura Shamas; opened February 14. Profiles of 4 Native American women, standing on the right, facing left. Also flowers. This poster will also be the cover of the published play.
May 5, 2025 at 3:57 PM
laurashamas.bsky.social
It’s happening! 4/26 & 4/27! Several of these short plays are previous winners of the Vonn Marie Atchley prize for Excellence in Playwriting, from Native Voices at the Autry.
Photos of 5 Native American playwrights: Lee Cataluna, Desiree Leialoha, James Lujan, Laura Shamas, Dustin Tahmahkera
April 23, 2025 at 6:21 AM
laurashamas.bsky.social
Seen at the grocery store today, near eggs:
Yellow Post-It posted in egg section: “Billionaires have decided that people with nothing deserve less. Resist!”
April 21, 2025 at 7:16 PM
laurashamas.bsky.social
My sister @lightsun764.bsky.social is producing this in late April in Littleton, CO. Come see ‘em!
Littleton, CO. April 26-27, 2025. Native American Short Play Festival, admission is free. Poster with (L to R in a circle) images of: a veggie stand, coffee cup, a telephone, seeds, and two boxes. Produced by Celebration of Native Arts with LUMC Fine Arts Series. Held at: Littletonumc.church 5894 South Datura, Littleton. 303-794-6379.
April 15, 2025 at 4:52 AM
laurashamas.bsky.social
I saw a red fox in the wild, still listed as “endangered.” It was very pretty, young and “bounding.” To preserve its privacy and safety, I did not take a photo. But here’s 1 from CA Wildlife files.
A red fox in CA grasslands or bush, with yellow arrows added to the photo (as graphics) to draw attention to its ear color and tail length. https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Mammals/Sierra-Nevada-Red-Fox/Identification
April 10, 2025 at 5:01 PM
laurashamas.bsky.social
Yes!
Protest signs at HandsOff in SLO, CA. The backs of many protestors. “HandsOff Civil Rights!” “Not My President!” “Resist! Stop T#### Now!”
April 8, 2025 at 5:20 PM
laurashamas.bsky.social
#HandsOff SLO - seemed like at least 3,000 people!
Protest signs in a crowd: Hands of Democracy! And more.
April 5, 2025 at 9:13 PM