''Unto These Hills'' is an outdoor historical drama during summers at the 2,800-seat Mountainside Theatre in

Cherokee, North Carolina Cherokee () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Swain and Jackson counties in Western North Carolina, United States, within the Qualla Boundary land trust. Cherokee is located in the Oconaluftee River Valley around the intersection of U.S. ...

. It is the third oldest outdoor historical drama in the United States, after '' The Lost Colony'' in Manteo in eastern North Carolina and '' The Ramona Pageant'' in Southern California. The first version of the play was written by Kermit Hunter and opened on July 1, 1950, to wide acclaim. The play recounts the history of the Cherokee of the Eastern region up to their removal by United States forces in 1838 via the

Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears was the forced displacement of about 60,000 people of the " Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850, and the additional thousands of Native Americans and their black slaves within that were ethnically cleansed by the U ...

Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...

, now

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

. The drama includes notable Cherokee historic figures, including

Sequoyah Sequoyah ( ; , , or , , ; 1770 – August 1843), also known as George Gist or George Guess, was a Native American polymath and Constructed script, neographer of the Cherokee Nation. In 1821, Sequoyah completed his Cherokee syllabary, enabl ...

, Junaluska, Chief Yonaguska a.k.a. Drowning Bear, and William Holland Thomas.

History

The Western North Carolina Associated Communities (WNCAC) in western North Carolina wanted to develop tourism and promote economic growth in the western part of the state. Inspired by the success of Paul Green's historic outdoor drama, or political pageant, '' The Lost Colony'', the WNCAC decided to make another political pageant about the

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), (Cherokee language, Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᏱ ᏕᏣᏓᏂᎸᎩ, ''Tsalagiyi Detsadanilvgi'') is a List of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States, federally recognized Indian Tribe, ...

(EBCI) in Cherokee, North Carolina. When Paul Green was unavailable to write a second play, they commissioned UNC graduate student Kermit Hunter to write the new outdoor drama. With the help of Joe Jennings, director Samuel Selden chose the EBCI's homeland of Cherokee, North Carolina, as the backdrop for the drama. The Mountainside Theatre was built for this outdoor drama. The play was first produced on July 1, 1950. It was immediately successful with more than 100,000 audience members in its first year of production. The play has run for more than 70 years at the Mountainside Theatre, which is owned and operated by the Cherokee Historical Association. It is staged Monday through Saturday evenings. Famous alumni of ''Unto These Hills'' include

Michael Rosenbaum Michael Rosenbaum (born July 11, 1972) is an American actor and podcaster. He is known for portraying Lex Luthor (Smallville), Lex Luthor on the television series ''Smallville'', a role that ''TV Guide'' included in their 2013 list of "The 60 Nas ...

, best known for his portrayal of

Lex Luthor Alexander "Lex" Joseph Luthor () is a supervillain in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the character first appeared in ''Action Comics'' #23 (published on February 22, 1940, with a cover d ...

on ''

Smallville ''Smallville'' is an American superhero fiction, superhero television series developed by writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series was produce ...

''; Adam Richman, host of

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, who previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in Manhattan, with ...

's '' Man v. Food''; Polly Holliday, of the 1970s sitcom ''

Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

''; and actor and former U.S. Representative Ben L. Jones of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, a regular on CBS's ''

The Dukes of Hazzard ''The Dukes of Hazzard'' is an American action comedy television series created by Gy Waldron that aired on CBS from January 26, 1979, to February 8, 1985, with a total of seven seasons consisting of List of The Dukes of Hazzard episodes, 147 ...

''. In 2006, the EBCI Tribal Government hired playwright Hanay Geiogamah (

Kiowa Kiowa ( ) or Cáuigú () people are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe and an Indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colora ...

) to revise the script, the first complete rewrite since the play was instituted. Geiogamah is a 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 the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

. Geiogamah was chosen to address a number of issues with the previous script, including historical inaccuracies. He was also encouraged to increase Cherokee tribal participation in the cast. Geiogamah accepted this challenge, wrote a new script, and produced a show. But many tribal members were reportedly not fond of the new play version, saying that it removed the Cherokee style of story telling and their history in this area. Geiogamah had added more interpretive dance to help convey the story. In addition, many tribal members missed having the story of Tsali included in the play. He is believed to have sacrificed his life in battle to gain approval for the remainder of his Cherokee people to stay in their homeland of North Carolina, at a time of conflict with European Americans. In 2007, the tribe hired Pat Allee and Ben Hurst to write a new script. In 2008, additional changes were made by Linda West. 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, suggests economic problems as the reason for the reduced crowds. The 2010 production is credited to Linda Squirrel. Eddie Swimmer, a Cherokee, serves as director of the drama. As of 2010, more than six million people have seen the production. In 2015, it was announced that the original Kermit Hunter script from 1950 would be brought out of retirement. Several changes were made to make the original script more historically accurate. Many attendees have been well pleased to see the original version of the show. In 2020, the production announced that the 2020 season was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. It was the first time the drama did not have a production season. The drama returned to their normal operating schedule in May 2021.

Sequel

The

Cherokee Nation The Cherokee Nation ( or ) is the largest of three list of federally recognized tribes, federally recognized tribes of Cherokees in the United States. It includes people descended from members of the Cherokee Nation (1794–1907), Old Cheroke ...

hired Hunter to write a sequel, ''The Trail of Tears'', covering the period during and after the removal to Indian Territory in what became the state of Oklahoma. That drama was performed at a large outdoor amphitheater at the Cherokee Heritage Center (then known as Tsa-La-Gi), from 1969 through 2005.

References

External links

''Unto These Hills''
at visitcherokeenc.com {{Cherokee 1950 plays American plays Appalachia in fiction Cherokee culture Cherokee, North Carolina Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Plays based on actual events Southern United States in fiction Native Americans in popular culture North Carolina in fiction Plays set in the United States Trail of Tears Works about Native Americans

History

Sequel

See also

References

External links