Play: Last West — Tess Taylor

LAST WEST: Roadsongs for Dorothea Lange
NOW TRAVELING IN OAKLAND AND MARIN | sign up here for updates

“No country has ever closely scrutinized itself visually….I know what we could make of it if people only thought we could dare look at ourselves.” - Dorothea Lange

LAST WEST began as a collage poem conceived in the Oakland Museum Archive in 2018, when Tess Taylor (who grew up in El Cerrito, a working-class suburb Dorothea Lange once photographed) uncovered Lange’s rarely seen road notebooks and then traveled to the towns Lange documented in the 1930s and 1940s, writing her letters from the present. Taylor’s text interweaves Lange’s journals filled with the voices and witness of folks Lange gathered along California’s roads of the past, with Taylor’s -day meditations, reporting, and reflection on crises facing ordinary Californians today.

LAST WEST—as a book of poems—first appeared at MoMA in 2020 as part of the “Dorothea Lange: Words & Pictures” exhibition. In 2021, Taylor decided to turn the book into a play, where it was workshopped at Magic Theatre. By 2025, LAST WEST (supported by a ColLABo fellowship at Carnegie Mellon) was built as an immersive play in five voices. In Fall 2025, LAST WEST premiered to a sold out run at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, and we formed our theater company with a common goal of sharing LAST WEST across California, in theaters, museums, schools and unexpected places. Our next showings will be in Oakland and Marin, with active discussions about bringing LAST WEST to Southern California as well.

LAST WEST is currently partnering with Marin Theater and the Oakland Museum for 2026–2027 performances around the Bay Area. The play’s upcoming showings will be in Oakland and Marin, with active discussions about bringing LAST WEST to Southern California as well. Sign up here for updates!

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performance dates

May 17, 1:00pm | Lieberman Black Box Theatre, Marin Theatre
Conversation with Tess Taylor & Lance Gardner

October 16, 5:30-8:30pm | Northgate Hall, Logan Multi-Media Center
UC Berkeley Symposium with Ken Light + Tess Taylor in conversation on Dorothea Lange, moderated by Makeda Best; reception follows

October 17-18 | Oakland Museum of California

October 17 - Gallery Chats: short monologues, Art & History Gallery
- Gallery admission ticket ($25) grants access to all galleries including special exhibitions
October 18 - Show times 1:00pm & 3:00pm
- James Moore Theater under the Spotlight Sundays program stream
- $10 ticket includes access to all galleries including special exhibitions

Even more exciting news to come! Stay tuned…

MEDIA

Q&A

Installation Video

Performance Photos

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Reviews/press

“Dorothea Lange, Water Prophet”– Bay Nature, Sept 2025
“A Poetic Portrait of Dorothea Lange”– Alta, Nov 2025
“Sonoma play draws on Dorothea Lange to reveal parallels between the Depression and today’s America”– The Press Democrat, Dec 2025