Another theatre whose single-play-repertoire would not normally be represented in our collections is the Mountainside Theatre in Cherokee, N.C. The Mountainside Theatre also specializes in an outdoor historic drama, “Unto These Hills.” While “The Lost Colony” was based on the received histories of the Roanoke Island colonists, “Unto These Hills” is a retelling of Cherokee history and interaction with colonists from De Soto to the trauma of the Trail of Tears. 

“Unto These Hills” has been performed since 1950. The outdoor drama was written by prolific playwright Kermit Hunter, who wrote over 40 historical outdoor dramas. The script for “Unto These Hills” has undergone numerous revisions in the last two decades, with the EBCI Tribal Government hiring producer and playwright Hanay Geiogamah in 2006. Geiogamah, who is Kiowa and Delaware, was hired to address a lack of tribal participation in the performance, and to fix historical inaccuracies in the original script. The changes were controversial, however, because some local Cherokee peoples felt the new version left out important aspects of their history.

 (credit: American Theatre Architecture Archive, Theatre Historical Society of America)