Unmasking Ishi

“Ishi,” the last survivor of the massacred Yahi Indian tribe, who emerged from the Northern California wilderness in 1911 and became a living museum exhibit, is the subject of a thoughtful new drama for youth at the Victory Theatre.

Although not the seamless mix of education and entertainment it tries to be, the show, incorporating masks, Yahi melodies and dance, has a humorous spark and is sensitively staged by playwright Abraham Tetenbaum.

It also features cast members of Navajo, Comanche and Wampanoag heritages.

The play opens as Ishi (Raul Subia), starving and alone, seeks guidance from the spirits of his dead family members about his desire to leave the wilderness for his own survival.

Reaching the town of Oroville and a 20th century world he has never before seen, Ishi is put in protective custody by a sympathetic sheriff (Jose R. Andrews, who also plays Spirit Grandfather). He is then turned over to two anthropologists (Larry Davison and Joel Drescher) who befriend as well as study him.

As the star exhibit at the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology, Ishi lives and works in the museum, where he demonstrates arrow-making and other customs of his tribe’s Stone Age existence. In the end, the last “wild Indian” in Northern America, as the press dubbed him, does after all succumb to civilization--in 1916, after contracting tuberculosis.

Gerald Quist’s ethereal half-masks help lend an other-worldly quality to Ishi’s spirit encounters, and Ishi’s humorous asides connect with the audience.

Tetenbaum, known for his work for adults (“Heat of Re-Entry,” “Crazy He Calls Me”), at times, however, lets the action lapse into pedagogic mode. He could also deepen the play with more strength in the scenes that recall Ishi’s past tribal life, to contrast with his diffident presence in the white man’s world.

That emphasis would also make more sense of Subia’s youthful, very fit physicality, something the actor unsuccessfully camouflages with, at times, overly childish body language--a constant shifting from foot to foot, head hanging--in order to portray an aging, weakened Ishi.

* “Ishi,” Victory Theatre, 3326 Victory Blvd., Burbank, Saturday and Sunday, 1 and 4 p.m. $8 (ages 12 and under) to $10. (818) 841-5421.

Plan Ahead: Early reservations are advised for Da Camera Society’s delightfully eclectic, quick-to-sell-out “Children’s Concerts in Historic Sites.” The next event, scheduled for Jan. 10, features KKGO-FM host and scuba instructor Rich Capparela, storyteller Peter Kors and pianist Delores Stevens in an undersea-themed program at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. The series concludes April 25 at the California African-American Museum, with the Anderson String Quartet and storyteller Sybil Desta in a celebration of African American cultural and historical achievements.

* “Children’s Concerts in Historic Sites.” Jan. 10--Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. April 25--California African-American Museum. $10 per child; $18 per adult, with special “Family Paks” of four tickets (two children, two adults) for $43. (310) 954-4330.