Under the rococo gilding of the Cutler Majestic Theater, a new show was performed for two nights only, September 29th and 30th, in a limited engagement on the historic stage. We Are the Land, the story of what it means to be Wampanoag, is both a pageant and a play and gives audiences a chance to hear directly from Wampanoag people about their history as protectors of the land spanning across several eastern states (including Massachusetts) with stories focusing on the last four centuries. After colonization by the Pilgrims 400 years ago, their voices were silenced. The Wampanoag nation has re-established itself in ways that honor its forebears and look toward the future. We Are the Land is a collaboration of a cast of Wampanoag artists, historians, actors, and storytellers telling their history through song, dance, and spoken word. The show premiered in Plymouth UK in April of 2023.
The stage design was impressive featuring a backdrop of stars with constellations that depicted the Great Bear. Occasionally a shooting star would make its way across the screen. A simulated fire sat in the middle of the stage surrounded by a few logs for seating. In the back right corner was a domicile made of animal skins draped over the frame of a wetu. Various animal pelts were hung over the front wall. Flute music alternated with drums and singing played in the background.
Ronee Pinoy, Director of Artistic Programming at Arts Emerson stepped out on stage to introduce the show. She explained that she was wearing orange on September 30th to remember those indigenous people who were forced into boarding schools. She asked that the audience open their hearts and minds to the stories they were about to hear. Then she read the formal land acknowledgment and encouraged people to think about how they can support living indigenous people today.
The program began with the screen behind the stage informing the audience that the period is 1491-Precontact, and the scene is “Our Medicine Woman and Maushop’s Prophecy.” An elderly man and woman met at the fire, and she used a feather to fan the air around the stage. A child and two women entered the stage through the door of the wetu. The child declared that she wanted quahogs for breakfast. The medicine woman began to talk about how she was troubled. She spoke with the water, wind, moon, sun, and the ancestors. People assured her that everything was okay, “Maushop has taken care of everything.” A giant puppet entered the stage as someone described the tale of the giant, benevolent Maushop wading into the ocean until he saw Grandfather Sun in a period where the days had grown too short. Maushop created a net and said, “I do not like to trap you, but I need you to listen to me.” He captured the sun and explained to him that the days were too short. He convinced the sun to stay out longer and in return, people would pay more attention to him. Then Maushop began to prophesy, he said that he would not be there to protect the Wampanoag from what would come next. “Strange people will come on floating islands drawn by clouds, and death will follow.” He instructed them to send some of their people to the West and to “remember me and remember who you are.”
The play covered stories from a broad swath of history starting with the pre-contact prophecy to colonization, Christianization, the Woodlot riots in 1833, and ended in the period of 1970-2023 when laws prevented Wampanoag people from building on their own land. For the final scene of the play, the cast gathered around the fire in front of a projection of images of indigenous people and took turns speaking directly to the audience alternating storytelling and spoken word. A few notable quotes from that portion were: “We survived to be the subconscious of the American Dream.” “We can’t change our history, but we can change how we think about our history.” “I was taught a lot about US history and nothing about Wampanoag history.” “I’m a Wampanoag and I’m still here.” “The day that we stop fighting is the day we lose.” “We must never be denied our culture.” “Every day I thank my ancestors for making the hard choices they had to make to survive.” In the end, in an emotional moment, 10-year-old Audreyana “Wind Maker” Hardin, stepped forward and declared “I am the future!”
There were several stand-out performances among the amazing cast. Young Aiden Andrews was very moving in his earnestness, as was Melvin Coombs Jr. with his stunning spoken word monologue, Jasmine Goodspeed was very convicted, and Elder of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, John Peters Jr., spoke in an easy storytelling way that was captivating. He said in his bio for the program “He knows firsthand how challenging it has become to live on his People’s aboriginal land, land that they have been on literally for thousands of years. He knows how important it is that his People are not socially and economically forced off the land that was deeded to his people by the sachems of his ancestors for as long as the water flows and the grass grows.”
In the digital program, Director Siobhan Brown talked about what the play meant to her and said “Our first obligation in telling this story is to our ancestors and their collective wisdom that allows us to be here today. The story you are about to witness was devised by the entire cast and members of our community who could not make the journey here today.
We recognize the emotional labor steeped in this process and center the experience of all Wôpanâak as our primary motive for telling this story.” It is such an important story to tell and is told so well in this production. Hopefully, it will continue to be performed to a wide audience.
