The play begins before the major non-Indian intrusion into Lakota territory, some time before 1863. Before that time, there had already been fur traders coming up the Missouri River and U.S. military expeditions into territory that eventually became South Dakota). Three Voices have chosen to simplify the historical reality in order to "set the stage."
Each act has three scenes with a soliloquy for each actor. The scenes revolve around a common theme. There are no breaks between acts. The play moves forward in time, shown by the birth of children and grandchildren and unfolding events. There is language in the play that is offensive by contemporary standards but is used because it is a direct quote or reflects the values of the time portrayed.
Jerry Goes In Center plays the role of Kamemela, a daughter of Sitting Bull. After the Battle of the Greasy Grass (Little Big Horn) she goes with him to Grandmother’s Land (Canada) and returns five years later to Fort Buford then to Fort Yates (Standing Rock Reservation). She is present when Sitting Bull is killed, then joins Big Foot and his band on their way to Pine Ridge to escape the possible reprisals following the murder of Sitting Bull and to join Short Bull's people in practicing the Spirit Dance religion. A day before reaching Pine Ridge, Big Foot and his people camped for the night on Wounded Knee Creek. The Ninth Cavalry (Buffalo soldiers) had been sent off on a wild goose chase into the Badlands, leaving the Seventh Cavalry (Custer's regiment) in charge of disarming the Lakota at Wounded Knee Creek.
Lilah Pengra plays the role of a well-to-do woman, Mrs. Robert (Abigail) Hanson, married to a man that has come west to increase his fortune as a land agent. She begins the play with all the prejudices of the time but as time goes on and she meets people in the west, she begins to question these prejudices. She moves with her husband first to Yankton then to Rapid City after the gold rush is under way in the Black Hills. She and her family help build a church and participate in the social life of Rapid City, Dakota Territory.
Joyce Jefferson plays the role of Mattie Elmira Richardson, a young woman just freed from slavery at the end of the Civil War. She and her family strive for education, land and secure jobs. She is engaged to a Buffalo soldier, Siscro McCarty, who is sent west to serve in Dakota Territory. She receives letters from her intended and hears about the gold rush, homesteading and the role of the Ninth Cavalry in a skirmish the day after the massacre at Wounded Knee.
The play ends with a blessing and image of reconciliation.
This Program was made possible with a Resource Center grant from the South Dakota Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
