World Premiere run: Arena Stage at the Kreeger Theater in Washington D.C.: January 12th, 2018 - February 18th, 2018
Length: Full Length Play. 2 Acts (13+15 scenes). Approximate time: about 1 hour and 45 minutes with one 15 minute intermission; 130 pages

The play weaves together two different timelines - the present day America and the 1830s and the lead up to the signing of the Treaty of New Echota - the legal document with which ceded all Cherokee lands east of the Mississippi River to the USA and which ended with the Trail of Tears.

The two stories connect in a lot of ways - the characters in the now and here are descendants of the ones from the 1830s and the main goal in both times is the definition and defense of the sovereignty of the Cherokee Nation. The one in the past is doomed to fail, despite all the good intentions; the ones today which should not have happened at all seems to have a better chance. Or does it? And the author wrote the whole story fluidly - scenes move from one timeline to another in mid-speech - showing how some things had not changed, almost 200 years later.

When the story opens a drunk man assaults a tribal policeman in a casino. The drunk is white - so the tribe has no jurisdiction. The state detective tries to arrest the guy but the realize that he has no jurisdiction either - because this is the reservation - if anything, he just opened himself to a lawsuit. The only people who can arrest the guy are the federal police and they are nowhere to be seen... And that leads to the character explaining the Oliphant Supreme Court decision from 1978 - tribal courts have no jurisdiction over non-Indian people even on their own land (yes, I know - I am oversimplifying) while state courts have no jurisdiction for crimes on tribal land at all and as one of the characters said when asked why one would not call the Feds: "I generally don't do things that waste my time". As a result the violence towards women and children had exploded - and only the 2013 VAWA (Violence Against Women Act) renewal added protection at least for these categories. But it is not really implemented yet.

From there the story starts following the Cherokee lawyer Sarah Ridge Polson who had just come home and the escalation of the internal conflict back in the 19th century. Before the end of the play (and the story), a lot of men will be dead in the past (killed based on a law which one of them wrote and still decided to break for the good of the nation) and in present time America, the lawyers will try to heal the gap between the families and the nations.

Remember that state cop who really could not understand how exactly the tribal police does not have jurisdiction on their own land at the opening of the story? By the end of the play he goes to the Supreme court to argue that even though he has been found guilty of domestic violence by the tribal court, it does not count and Oliphant should be still valid despite the VAWA provisions.

After I read the story I looked up the whole story online - both the past and the current days stories sounded almost fantastical. The only "fiction" is that last Supreme Court trial (and it is most likely a question of time) - the rest of the history did happen and is happening.

I found the story in present day America a lot more disturbing than the one in the 1830s (if one can compare two tragedies this way). But we are supposed to be a lot more compassionate these days. And yet men in the 21st century can violate a woman and not be held responsible in the same way as a man from the Georgia Guard in the 1830s was (well, at least noone is now encouraging men to do it...). Andrew Jackson has a lot to answer for - the scenes with him are almost surreal - they probably did not happen exactly like that but the result was the same...

The author is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation and a lawyer herself - and just like her protagonist, she traces her roots directly to John Ridge - one of the men who signed the treaty and is considered a traitor by many in the tribe. Giving up becomes a major theme in both timelines - when do you just give up and when you risk everything and hope to win. The Ridges of the 1830s lost; the ones in the 21st century may have found a way to win - at least when it matters. And over the whole play is the shadow of belonging and memory - is the future more important than the past and can old wounds heal and can people find where they belong.

If you know the story, the play will be a reminder of it with lively dialog and personalities thrown in. If you do not know the story (I did not), it is a history lesson in the form of a play - and I suspect it will stay with you for a very long time. ( )