Blossom Johnson is a Diné playwright and screenwriter. She is from the Yé’ii Dine’é Táchii’nii (Giant People) clan, and her maternal grandfather is from the Deeshchíí’nii (Start of the Red Streak People) clan. Her plays include Red Running Into Water, monster SLAYer, Diné Nishłį (i am a sacred being) Or, A Boarding School Play, Our Legendary Mother, K’é, Dark Earth and ayóó'áníínísh'ní. Her work has been supported by New York Stage and Film, Perelman Performing Arts Center and Playwrights Horizons, Bag&Baggage and Native Performing Arts Network (formerly Native Theater Project), Alternative Theater Ensemble, Mixed Blood Theater, Durango PlayFest, and more. Her work has earned support through First Peoples Fund Cultural Capital Fellowship, Playwrights’ Center’s Jerome Fellowship, Netflix Animation Foundations Program, UC Berkeley’s Arts Research Center, and the Minnesota State Arts Board Creative Support for Individuals.
Her play, Diné Nishłį (i am a sacred being) Or, A Boarding School Play, made the Kilroys Web, and had a World Premiere with Bag&Baggage and Native Theater Project in the Portland Area. Her debut play, Red Running Into Water, had a World Premiere with New Native Theatre in the Twin Cities. As a dramaturg, Blossom has worked with the Guthrie Theater, Native Voices at the Autry, UCSB Launch Pad, PlayPenn, Urbanite Theatre, and YIPAP (Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program). Blossom was in the Librettist cohort for the 2024 Nautilus Music-Theater’s Composer-Librettist Studio. She is a 2025-28 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, a Democracy Cycle 2025 recipient along with Daniel Leeman Smith, and she is thrilled to announce she is a 2026-29 Core Writer at the Playwrights’ Center. She is honored to co-write an adaptation of Brenda Child’s Bowwow Powwow with Benay McNamara which will have a World Premiere with Stages Theatre in collaboration with Mni Giizhik Theatre Ensemble from September 16 - 27, 2026 in Hopkins, MN. She holds an MFA in Dramaturgy from Columbia University and a BA in Theatre from Arizona State University.
Free
Playwrights’ Center, 710 Raymond Ave, Saint Paul, MN 55114
In-person May 10 & 11 at 7:00 p.m. CDT
About the play
Piccadillys, K-pop, and queer joy in a small town? Say less. A tender, hilarious, dance-your-heart-out coming-of-age story in which three teens with a shared love of K-POP and piccadilly (snow cones topped with pickles and Kool-Aid) open a piccadilly snow cone stand in the hopes of raising enough funds to buy concert tickets.
Get ready to laugh, cry, and move your body as you root for three Navajo teens scheming their way to Vegas while navigating love, loss, and coming out.
I wrote a short version of this play in the Navajo language and I loved the characters so much that I wanted more people to see them. Navajo people have always recognized more than two genders but colonization has done so much damage to our community. I wrote this play for my nadleehi, dilbaa and two-spirit community because our youth deserve to become elders. When I was writing this play I hadn’t realized how many friends I have loss to suicide but I want to tell my community that I love them, they are loved and you are sacred, so I named the play ayóó’áníínísh’ní (which means ‘I love you’ in Navajo).
Making your reservation
This is an free, in-person, ticketed event at Playwrights’ Center on May 10 & 11. Donations are accepted and appreciated.
Please use the sign up link below to reserve your spot in advance.
If you have any questions about making your reservation, please email us at rsvp@pwcenter.org.
When to arrive
All seating is general admission. We recommend arriving 10-15 minutes prior to the reading to check in and find your seat. Please note, free parking is limited around the Center.
Visit our About page to learn more about parking and accessibility.
Large groups
If you are making a reservation for more than eight people, please email rsvp@pwcenter.org to arrange. If you make a reservation for more than eight, a member of our team may be in touch closer to the reading date to confirm final numbers for your group.
Blossom Johnson
