"INDIAN" SUMMERS: QUERYING REPRESENTATIONS OF NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURES IN OUTDOOR HISTORICAL DRAMA Heidi L. Nees A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY December 2012 Committee: Scott Magelssen, Ph.D., Advisor Lynda D. Dixon, Ph.D. Graduate Faculty Representative Jonathan Chambers, Ph.D. Lesa Lockford, Ph.D. © 2012 Heidi L. Nees All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Scott Magelssen, Advisor Since their emergence in the1950s and 1960s as popular summer tourist fare, outdoor historical dramas have featured Indian characters in dominant roles. While the non-native founders of these dramas have defended the use of these characters as a respectful tribute to Native American traditions and values, in many cases, the depictions have remained static over the years and continue to reflect problematic white constructions of the Indian “Other.” In some instances, such as in the cases of Unto These Hills and the Under the Cherokee Moon, Native Americans in the area surrounding the production site have instigated changes to the way their cultures are represented in these performances. This dissertation is a historical study that analyzes production and performance choices that engage representations of Native Americans in outdoor historical dramas—representations that have historically tended toward reinscriptions of unhelpful stereotypes. I analyze recent changes in these representations to explore how Native American cultures are currently portrayed. The dramas I examine include Trumpet in the Land, The White Savage, Tecumseh!, Blue Jacket, Unto These Hills, and Under the Cherokee Moon. My research calls upon interviews with production participants, close readings of the productions, archival materials, and secondary sources. Instead of treating each production as a separate case study, I read across the various plays in order to explore the issues that emerge from the representational practices of outdoor historical dramas. I consider such issues as the Native American stereotypes traditionally staged in these dramas; how the absence or presence of Native American iv communities in the area surrounding a production affects the depictions of Native American cultures in the show; issues of accuracy and authenticity in the productions; and the changes that have been made to production choices, and thereby the representations, in some outdoor dramas. The depictions of Native American cultures in outdoor historical dramas are not innocuous. It is important to problematize how and by whom indigenous cultures are presented to audiences in these dramas, as well as the effects these presentations have on the cultures being represented. v Figure 1: Sign, Cherokee Heritage Center in Tahlequah, OK. Photo by Heidi L. Nees “The average tourist doesn’t give a damn about history, but he will stop to see a rat-fight, and to see Indians. I am speaking of the hundreds of thousands on the highways who are white, and who know the romance of Indians, and who are just a little fed up with TV baseball, restless kids, and boredom.” Kermit Hunter, Playwright Letter to “Troy and Charles,” c. 1994 vi To my E.C. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction/Project Description ................................................................................ 1 Purpose Statement ...................................................................................................... 6 Research Questions .................................................................................................... 6 Methodology and Methods ........................................................................................ 7 Limitations ................................................................................................................. 10 Terminology ............................................................................................................... 11 Theoretical Lenses ..................................................................................................... 12 Review of Literature .................................................................................................. 20 Chapter Breakdown ................................................................................................... 38 CHAPTER I: UNRESOLVED HISTORIES ......................................................................... 41 Outdoor Historical Dramas ........................................................................................ 44 Tecumseh!.................................................................................................................. 58 Blue Jacket...... ........................................................................................................... 64 Trumpet in the Land/The White Savage ..................................................................... 68 Unto These Hills ........................................................................................................ 72 Trail of Tears/Under the Cherokee Moon ................................................................. 79 CHAPTER II: ABSENCE ..................................................................................................... 84 CHAPTER III: PRESENCE .................................................................................................. 123 CHAPTER IV: ISSUES IN ACCURACY AND AUTHENTICITY .................................... 153 viii CHAPTER V: NEW DIRECTIONS ..................................................................................... 207 CONCLUSION........... ........................................................................................................... 236 WORKS CITED .................................................................................................................... 241 APPENDIX A: IMAGES ...................................................................................................... 254 APPENDIX B: HSRB............................................................................................................ 257 ix LIST OF FIGURES/TABLES Figure/Table Page 1 Sign, Cherokee Heritage Center in Tahlequah, OK. Photo by Heidi L. Nees. v 2 Schoenbrunn Amphitheatre—site of Trumpet in the Land and The White Savage (All Photos by Heidi L. Nees).. .................................................................................. 254 3 Schoenbrunn Amphitheatre. ...................................................................................... 254 4 Mountainside Theatre—site of Unto These Hills. ..................................................... 255 5 Unto These Hills . A Retelling. Kanati the Great Hunter and Selu the Corn Mother act as narrators, introducing the audience to Cherokee history and culture. ............. 255 6 Sugarloaf Mountain Amphitheatre—site of Tecumseh! ............................................ 256 7 The General Store at Adam’s Corner Rural Village— site of Under the Cherokee Moon. ............................................................................. 256 x PREFACE & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is a tannish-brown color. The etched writing is rough, the lines are not exact, they are crude, primitive in style. It is not shaped like a block of wood—the natural shape is retained— part of a tree branch. The etched writing reads, “A Gift presented by the Indian Guides and Indian Princesses from the YMCA of Columbus.” My earliest recollection of it is from when I was three or four years old. It sat on my father’s desk at work, standing by with pens at ready for his use. It took awhile—several years, in fact—for me to realize that the gift was not from, nor made by, “real” Indians. The attempt at what the non-native manufacturers presumably thought looked “authentic” had worked on me as a child, at least for awhile. My father was a YMCA Executive Director in Piqua, Ohio, and had been active with the YMCA Indian Guides program. While I recall the penholder representing his service to the program clearly, I never remember taking part in the program as a child. My own experience with the program occurred when, as an adult, I became a Senior Program Director at a YMCA in Los Angeles, California. One of the programs I inherited was the Adventure Guides program, which was a revamped version of the Indian Guides program. I quickly learned however, that the Indian Guides program had not been phased out of YMCA memory as smoothly as some would have thought, or liked. Local and regional YMCAs, and later the YMCA of the USA, formed and developed the Indian Guides program during the first half of the twentieth century and provided nature-based bonding activities to father and son pairs. Participants formed their own tribes, adopted their own Indian names, and learned campfire rituals to perform during camping excursions.1 In the 1 In many ways, the YMCA Indian Guides program shared characteristics with the Boy Scouts, Native Sons and Daughters, and other youth programs that involved donning “Indian” identity. For more critical engagement with these types of programs, consult Philip Deloria’s Playing Indian (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998). For more information specifically on the YMCA Indian Guides program, there are various websites, including the xi early years of the twenty-first century, the YMCA of the USA decided to change