Unto These Hills
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Unto These Hills is the third oldest outdoor historical drama in the United States after The Lost Colony in Manteo, North Carolina. The play, written by Kermit Hunter (who is also credited with writing the scripts for many other outdoor dramas), opened at the Mountainside Theatre in Cherokee, North Carolina on July 1, 1950.
The play opens with the 'discovery' of the Cherokee by Hernando de Soto in 1540 and then jumps to 1811 to follow the story of the Cherokee of this region up to their removal, via the Trail of Tears, in 1838. The drama includes many famous Cherokee leaders including Sequoyah, Junaluska, Chief Yonaguska or Drowning Bear, and William Holland Thomas (adopted son of Drowning Bear and the first and only white chief of the Cherokee).
The drama is operated by the Cherokee Historical Association which also operates the Museum of the Cherokee Indian and the Oconaluftee Indian Village, a re-creation of an authentic Cherokee village circa 1750. All these operations are located within the Qualla Boundary (Cherokee Indian Reservation).
In 2006, the EBCI Tribal Government hired playwright Hanay Geiogamah to give the drama a new lease on life. Under the direction of this renowned playwright, “Unto These Hills” experienced the first complete rewrite in the play’s history. Geiogamah is a Kiowa Indian and accomplished writer/producer of Native American dramas, as well as the founder of the American Indian Dance Theater. He was selected to address a number of issues with the previous script, historical inaccuracies and a lack of Cherokee tribal participation in the cast. Geiogamah accepted this challenge, wrote a new script and produced a show that honors its past even though every detail has been transformed.
Many of the tribal members who remain on the ancestral lands of the Cherokee are not fond of the new play version, as it removes a lot of the story telling and history of the Cherokee, and leaves it to more interepretive dance. They feel the play does not tell their people's story any more, and unless you are well versed in EBCI heritage and history, you will not understand the new directions Hanay Geiogamah has taken.
One of the key elements many feel are missing is the story of Tsali, whose life was given so that the rest of the Cherokee's may remain in their homes in North Carolina.
SYNOPSIS
Taken from the official Unto These Hills website.
ACT I Prologue – The Creator calls the Messenger Birds to gather the Clan Spirits by the Sacred Fire in the Council House. They are to help guide the Cherokee people to remember the past and make new songs and dances.
SCENE 1 - The Clan Spirits discuss the Cherokee culture and ask Kanati, the Great Hunter, to help them remember and tell the story. We are introduced to his wife, Selu, the Corn Mother. Kanati introduces the Boogers and they warn the Cherokee of the impending invasion of the Europeans. De Soto enters Cherokee territory seeking gold.
SCENE 2 – Tecumseh visits the Cherokee country and attempts to gain support for his war against the White settlers. The Cherokee decide not to join him but to labor for peace. When the U.S. Government requests their assistance at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, the Cherokee accept and perform the Warrior Dance in preparation. During the battle we witness a Cherokee warrior saving the life of Andrew Jackson.
SCENE 3 – The Cherokee return to their homes and perform the Eagle Dance in celebration of their efforts at Horseshoe Bend. The spirits of the eagles fly down from the mountains to help show the goodness and strength of the Cherokee people.
SCENE 4 – Kanati witnesses the detrimental effects of the white settlers’ continual encroachment into Cherokee land. The words arguing for peace with the whites that were spoken in the council with Tecumseh come back to haunt him. The Boogers are joined by drummers surrounding Kanati, thus surrounding the intensity and anguish of his remembrances to a fever pitch.
SCENE 5 – A Cherokee wedding ceremony is interrupted by U.S. Soldiers arriving to begin gathering the Cherokee for removal. The tragic Trail of Tears occurs and we witness some Cherokee fleeing into the mountains. The Clan Spirits also depart with great sadness and the stage slowly fades to black as the bird spirits return, painfully trying to understand why the Cherokee are gone.
ACT II
SCENE 1 – A Cherokee song is performed to evoke Cherokee memories, longing, pain, forgiveness and healing.
SCENE 2 – The Cherokee perform a ceremony for all of those who died on the Trail of Tears.
SCENE 3 – The Eastern & Western Cherokee are symbolically reunited through the performance of a Hoop Dance. The Hoops become a glowing, living connection between both tribes.
SCENE 4 – The Cherokee perform a Hoe Down to demonstrate their fun loving nature and to show that they have adopted and integrated some aspects of American culture. This dance evolves into a Cherokee Dance Suite, which features Cherokee youth performing traditional dances of the Cherokee. In turn, this segues into a New Dance performed by the entire cast.
FINALE – The cast sings “Spirits Rising” as the Messenger birds flock together and leave the space as they found it – open, inviting and surrounded by the mountains where the Cherokee originated.
