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New perspectives
This experience, Shawnee Living History Tour is an opportunity to enjoy historical outdoor drama at actual sites where history happened. Unlike outdoor dramas of the past, we do not act on a stage. Rather, we create scenes in settings of natural beauty, partnering with our State and local parks systems in a network of locations that present a totally unique and authentic setting. Additionally, and most importantly, the actors in this production are all citizens of Federally Recognized Tribes who give this experience a completely new perspective of Ohio history, a perspective that has been historically cast with non-Tribal citizens. Lastly, we are committed to accurate, historical based research as a foundation for our work. This research will be shared with the audience in an effort to not only entertain, but to also educate the public in a more scholarly manner compared to outdoor drama of the past.
“Hato!”
We drop into the year 1778, and the tumultuous month of September.
Caesar, an American maroon, our guide, and interpreter appears from the wood line far, far upstage. He calls us over, and after quickly getting acquainted, he shares his pledge to deliver a letter to Tribal leadership that very well may threaten the lives and the sovereignty of the Shawnee. But before leading us on, he shows us something else, another new development. The Shawnee have taken Simon Kenton, a spy and horse thief captive! As the drama unfolds, the tour visits four sites, with one additional stop at Young’s Dairy. From Caesar Ford Park we continue with Caesar to John Bryan State Park and a scene along the Little Miami not far from the Shawnee Village of Chillicothe. Here Nonhelema canoes ashore and offers her goods for trade along with her objections to war, an opinion that is unpopular in 1778. From there, we continue to Glen Helen Nature Preserve to speak with an elder, Koko’ge, Grandmother who tells us about the Mounds and her job as a protector of her young people before walking us to the nearby Yellow Spring. Then, after stopping for cheeseburgers and milkshakes at Young’s, we complete our tour by stepping onto the birthplace of Tecumtheth, the Shawnee Village of Pe’qa along the Mad River, George Rogers Clark Park. In this final, climactic scene that includes Kenton the captive, the news from the letter is revealed to the Shawnee War Captain, Blue Jacket. We learn that his people’s home where the Shawnee have had cultural ties for over 2,000 years has been mandated as the domain of Virginia and the necessary laws to process land warrants for the new government of the United States of America will be passed in the Spring of next year! After a few moments of intense anger and frustration, generally directed at Kenton, Blue Jacket turns to us. There he turns to the audience, asking, “Is it fair that the future freedom of my people be stolen and sold so that your freedom is paid for? Why do the Shawnee have to pay this price?” Concluding his point and ending the scene, Blue Jacket asks us to be compassionate if we find ourselves living in times like his... times that feel like we are in a whirlpool. Then to the surprise of the audience, the cast who have rallied there out of sight come forward out of character to offer a proper meet and greet just like the old outdoor dramas, but vastly different in that now the audience has the unique opportunity to meet modern Tribal Citizens, not just actors playing “Indian.”