The Way the Mountain Moved

Suitable for middle and high school groups, The Way the Mountain Moved will provide students with a deeper understanding of a significant period in U.S. history.

The Thomas Theatre is outfitted with an elevator to the theatre level.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is committed to accessibility. We recognize the needs of persons with disabilities and strive to make our facilities and productions accessible to all. OSF offers a variety of accommodations, outlined here.

Esta obra en estreno mundial fue comisionada por OSF American Revolutions y escrita por el aclamado autor de teatro, Idris Goodwin. May Adrales (Vietgone), dirige el poderoso viaje hacia los orígenes del Transcontinental Railroad (carril transcontinental). La obra explora perspectivas muchas veces no contadas acerca de un capítulo icónico de la historia americana y los eventos que formarían el futuro tanto moral como ambiental del país. En un desierto remoto de los años 1850, cuatro hombres – un teniente del ejército de los Estados Unidos, un tirador de primera, un científico botánico y un artista – emprenden un estudio de apeo de la ruta del nuevo carril que abarcaría el continente. Después de dispersarse los cuatro en odiseas separadas, sus caminos se cruzan con pioneros extraviados, cautelosa gente indígena y una pareja áfrica-americana mormona que no saben si ofrecer amistad, pelearse o huirse de los desconocidos recién llegados. ¿Cuáles sueños triunfarán? Esta obra se junta a las obras All the Way, Roe y Sweat  que fueron comisionadas por American Revolutions para examinar momentos claves de cambio de la historia de los Estados Unidos.

El desarrollo de Cómo se movió la montaña es apoyado por dotaciones de The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation y The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.

Cómo se movió la montaña es una obra idónea para grupos de estudiantes  de secundaria y preparatoria y les proporcionarán una mayor comprensión de una época significante de la historia de los EEUU.

El Teatro Thomas cuenta con elevador al nivel del teatro.

El Oregon Shakespeare Festival se compromete a la accesibilidad. Reconocemos a las necesidades de los patrones con discapacidades y nos esforzamos a asegurar que nuestras instalaciones y producciones les sean accesibles a todos. OSF ofrece una variedad de acomodaciones, aquí descritas here.

When white Europeans first arrived in North America, the continuent’s Indigenous population  was incredibly diverse; Native American groups spoke 300 to 500 distinct languages, compared to Europe’s 40 to 70. The area occupied by the current state of Utah alone sustained the Diné (Navajo), Kusiutta (Goshute), Nuutsiu (Ute), Newe (Shoshone), Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute) and Numa (Northern Paiute) tribes—each group further divided into autonomous bands, with names reflecting regional and dietary differences.

The Nuutsiu and Diné peoples likely acquired horses in the 1600s, which led to the rise of warrior culture, larger trade networks and conflicts with other tribes over land. In the  1700s, the Spanish exposed these groups to market economics (versus traditional economies of reciprocal exchange) and chattel slavery. Warriors soon began capturing Nuwuvi and Kusiutta children and young women to sell to the Spanish as slaves.

The Nuwuvi and Kusiutta, on the other hand, resisted using horses. To survive in the dry desert, they had become expert in using over 80 different plant foods, including seeds from the grass that horses would have devoured. Both groups practiced a seasonal cycle of nomadic gathering and small-scale farming. And both groups preferred to respond to Nuutsiu and Diné depredations peacefully—by moving or hiding their camps in increasingly remote areas.

When Mormons settled in Nuwuvi lands in 1851, the tribe initially welcomed the newcomers as protection from their aggressive neighbors. However, the Mormons swiftly occupied Nuwuvi water sources and farmland, leaving the people so desperate for food that many sold their children to the church members (perhaps as a way to keep them nearby and fed) and submitted to serving as the settlers’ manual labor force. Eventually, however, they began to fight back. It is in this context that the 1853 murder of Captain John Gunnison and seven members of his survey team was blamed on the Nuwuvi; it was later discovered to be a band of Nuutsiu, avenging a member killed by whites. 

—Laura A. Brueckner 

Reprinted from OSF’s 2018 Illuminations, a 64-page guide to the season’s plays. Members at the Donor level and above and teachers who bring school groups to OSF receive a free copy of Illuminations.