The rebellious Teonna Rainwater is played by Aminah Nieves, who made her acting debut last year in "Blueberry" as Elsa, who convinces her friend Maya (Maya Danzig) to run away with her from Iowa to South Dakota. Nieves also appeared in the 2021 film"V/H/S/99" as a young punk musician named Clarissa (via IMDb).
The school Teonna attends in "1923" is modeled after government-run boarding schools of the era that were designed to erase Native languages and cultures, and Teonna fights back against her teacher, Sister Alice (Jennifer Ehle), and is further physically and verbally abused in response.
When asked by Decider if bringing this dark chapter of American history to life on screen was difficult for her, Nieves answered, "100%, but I think it's all a part of the healing process and paying respects to and honoring our ancestors." Nieves and Ehle also spoke of the tactics they used to get through the traumatic scenes that they shared, including tap patterns and safe words. "Yeah, we had it all," Nieves said. "After every take, we would just hug it out. After those scenes were finished, we would cry together. I was very safe.
Ehle added, "Sometimes working the dark stuff is the most fun to do. This wasn't fun. This one wasn't fun." Nieves does a brilliant job of bringing the trauma suffered at the hands of countless young Native children to the screen, and will no doubt earn many more future roles with her powerful performance in "1923."
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