Unto These Hills

For other uses, see Unto These Hills (disambiguation).

Unto These Hills
Written by	Kermit Hunter
Date premiered	July 1, 1950 (1950-07-01)
Place premiered	Cherokee, North Carolina
Genre	Outdoor historical drama

Unto These Hills is an outdoor historical drama staged annually at the 2800-seat Mountainside Theatre in Cherokee, North Carolina. It is the second oldest outdoor historical drama in the United States, after The Lost Colony in Manteo, North Carolina. The first version of the play was written by Kermit Hunter (who is also credited with writing the scripts for many other outdoor dramas, including Horn in the West, the third oldest outdoor drama in Boone, North Carolina). It opened at the Mountainside Theatre on July 1, 1950 to wide acclaim. Famous alumni include Michael Rosenbaum, best known for his portrayal of Lex Luthor on Smallville; Morgan Freeman; and actor and former US Representative Ben Jones of "the Dukes of Hazzard" fame.^[1]

The play follows the story of the Cherokee of the Eastern region up to their removal, via the Trail of Tears, in 1838. The drama includes many famous Cherokee figures 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), Selu the Corn Mother, and Kanati the Great Hunter.

The drama is operated by the Cherokee Historical Association which also operates the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, the Oconaluftee Indian Village--a re-creation of an authentic Cherokee village circa 1750, and Qualla Arts & Crafts, the oldest Native American Arts cooperative in the United States.^[2] All these operations are located within the Qualla Boundary (Cherokee Indian Reservation).

History

As of 2010, over 6 million people have seen this production.

When it opened in 1950, the mountains did not have television, and Cherokee's casinos were still years away. Unto These Hills ran for decades at Mountainside Theatre.^[3]

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/director/producer of Native American dramas, as well as the founder of the American Indian Dance Theatre and Professor in the Department of Theater at UCLA. 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. However, many tribal members are reportedly 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 interpretive dance. In addition, one of the key elements many tribal members feel is missing is the story of Tsali, whose life was given so that the rest of the Cherokees may remain in their homes in North Carolina.

The 2007 script was written by Pat Allee and Ben Hurst, with the 2008 script written by Linda West.^[4]

Fewer than 50,000 people saw the performance in summer 2009, about half the number from years ago. John Tissue, director of the Cherokee Historical association, blames the economy. The 2010 production is credited to Linda Squirrel, and Eddie Swimmer, a Cherokee, serves as director.^[3]

See also

• Snow Camp Outdoor Theater
• Lost Colony

References

1. ^ http://www.goupstate.com/article/20080710/NEWS/807100327/1097/entertainment&title=_Unto_These_Hills__wowing_another_generation
2. ^ Authentic Native American Arts and Crafts - visit Qualla Arts in Cherokee, NC
3. ^ ^{a b} Kiss, Tony (2010-07-09). "Head to these hills: Cherokee outdoor drama still stuns after more than 50 years". Asheville Citizen-Times. http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20100709/ENT/307090017/1037. Retrieved 2010-07-09. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ Cast of Unto These Hills, Drama by Cherokee NC

External links

• Unto These Hills Homepage