Seeking Sovereignty

Cherokee citizen remembers choices of her grandfather

Courtesy Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark.; photography by Edward C. Robison III This "Portrait of John Ridge," an 1825 oil on panel (171/2 by 131/2 inches) by Charles Bird King, will be the topic of a gallery conversation at 6 p.m. Feb. 21 at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville. The event is one of several surrounding a reading of Mary Kathryn Nagle's play, "Sovereignty." The playwright is the great-great-great-granddaughter of John Ridge.
Courtesy Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark.; photography by Edward C. Robison III This "Portrait of John Ridge," an 1825 oil on panel (171/2 by 131/2 inches) by Charles Bird King, will be the topic of a gallery conversation at 6 p.m. Feb. 21 at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville. The event is one of several surrounding a reading of Mary Kathryn Nagle's play, "Sovereignty." The playwright is the great-great-great-granddaughter of John Ridge.

The University of Arkansas, Crystal Bridges and TheatreSquared are collaborating on a host of theater, art and history events surrounding a reading of Mary Kathryn Nagle's play, "Sovereignty."

Nagle is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation and the great-great-great-granddaughter of John Ridge, one of about Cherokee leaders who signed the Treaty of New Echota in 1835. It was an act that would later become the legal basis for the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation from Georgia, an event that would eventually be known as the Trail of Tears. "Sovereignty" delves into Ridge's history, his decision to sign the treaty and how the repercussions of that decision impact present-day America.

FYI

Surrounding

The Ridges

Mary Kathryn Nagle and the legacy of her influential Cherokee family will be featured in a series of theater, art and history events Feb. 18-21.

Elias Cornelius Boudinot: Cherokee Confederate in the Age of Print Culture

WHEN — 5 p.m. Feb. 18

WHERE — Walton Reading Room, Mullins Library, 365 N. McIlroy Ave., Fayetteville

A View from the Ridge: An evening with playwright and Ridge descendant Mary Kathryn Nagle

WHEN — 7 p.m. Feb. 18

WHERE — Faulkner Performing Arts Center, 453 N. Garland Ave., Fayetteville

A Ridge and Boudinot Walking Tour

WHEN — Noon Feb. 20

WHERE — 1 E. Center St., Fayetteville

Gallery Conversation: Portrait of John Ridge by Charles Bird King

WHEN — 6 p.m. Feb. 21

WHERE — Early American Gallery, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville

‘Sovereignty,’ a play by Mary Kathryn Nagle, presented by TheatreSquared

WHEN — 7 p.m. Feb. 21

WHERE — Great Hall, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville

COST — All events are free

INFO — Andra Liwag, UA director of communications, 575-4393

A week before her play's scheduled reading, Nagle is in Washington, D.C., wearing a different hat than that of playwright: She is also a lawyer, a partner at the firm Pipestem Law, specializing in tribal sovereignty of Native nations and people.

"A lot of my work, in particular, has focused on violence against Native women," she explains. "The Violence Against Women Act is up right now, so there's a lot to do. I'm meeting with senators and congressmen and women on the Hill."

Nagle says she always knew she wanted to focus one of her plays around the topic of sovereignty -- the authority of indigenous tribes to self-govern. The play was originally commissioned by the award-winning Washington, D.C., theater company Arena Stage.

"It was a fight my grandfathers fought, and I knew I wanted to write about it," she says. "I was actually kind of shocked that a powerful theater like Arena Stage would want me to write this. Most American theaters had never produced a Native playwright at that time. I was getting a lot of 'No's.' I think, out of their own ignorance, they thought their audiences wouldn't be interested -- but a good story is a good story."

And Ridge's story is, indeed, a good story. Reviled for his treaty signature at the time, he would ultimately lose his life as a result. But, says Sean Teuton, the UA's director of indigenous studies, it's a complicated story.

"And it's a controversial story," he says. Teuton, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, will be one of the guides for a walking tour that will point out different locations near the Fayetteville square that are of interest in regards to the Ridge family story. "I want to bring out the complexity in this situation. [Ridge] really believed that it was the only hope for the Cherokees. He knew if he was to remain and if he were to allow the Cherokee to remain, they would fall into decay. There was talk of them being sold into slavery. He thought he had to sign that treaty and work the best deal they could to get some land out west."

Nagle's play "Crossing Mnisose" was performed at TheatreSquared's New Play Festival last summer.

"I was able to make giant leaps forward on my work," she says of the experience. "When you're working with smart, creative people, good things happen."

Ultimately, Nagle hopes her work will help educate people on the little-explored subject of Native history and Tribal Nations.

"People have been very open to it and want to learn more, which is exciting to me, because it's a history that's been erased or silenced for the most part," she says. "That's how you get a country that tolerated its president using the Trail of Tears as a punchline. The reason he can do that and not have most Americans say 'Shame on you' is because the story is just not told from our perspective, from our lens or in our words."

"She's taking risks and raising questions that confound us today -- in the Cherokee Nation but also in the United States," observes Teuton of Nagle's work. "She's raising questions about immigration, patriotism, dissent -- and honoring the complete family story, not just those that are the most positive. I think it models what we can all do with our family history."

NAN What's Up on 02/17/2019

Upcoming Events