EPIC blends ancient Mayan stories with the lives of young artists in South Omaha in a creative way using shadow puppets, live and recorded music, and a diverse cast drawn from the community. The stories and characters are compiled from story circles held in South Omaha communities and reimagined into a play. It was commissioned and presented by Great Plains Theater Commons, written by Ellen Struve, directed by Michael John Garcés.
Following three young artists tasked with creating a new mural, the play explores themes of family, immigration and art pulled from the experience of community members in South Omaha and from the sacred Mayan text, the Popul Vuh.
All proceeds went to the family of Daniel Maya who was killed by the state of Guatemala for his activism in defense of Mother Earth and was declared a Maya Hero by the Q’anjob’al Maya Nation