Instead of just beginning by acknowledging Manhattan as the homeland of the Lenape, the way most theater companies do these days, the Eagle Project made their whole show about it. A member of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape tribal nation named Opalanietet began first with a Lenape ritual in front of Shorakkopoch Rock in Inwood Park. “According to legend” (according to the 40-year-old plaque on the rock), this is where Peter Minuit “purchased” Manhattan island in 1626. As one of the videos below shows, Opalanietet sang a traditional song, wished a Happy 400th birthday to the City of New York and a Happy 12,000 birthday to Lënapehòkink (the land of Lenape), then welcomed the couple of dozen spectators to the first show of the first annual Down to Earth Festival, which is presenting more than a dozen such novel productions, some from abroad, many outdoors, all for free, through September 7th. It is sponsored by the Martin Segal Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (where, Opalanietet, who also goes by Ryan Victor Pierce, is a PhD student in theater and performance studies.)
In “Turtle Island and Muskrat,” a twenty-minute piece, Opalanietet and two other cast members, Kimberly JaJuan and Beto O’Byrne, dramatized the Lenape’s creation story, which involves a muskrat digging mud from the bottom of the seas, and placing it on the back of a turtle, with the help of the Creator. (“Turtle Island is our name for North America,” JaJuan, a member of the Haliwa-Saponi tribe in Northeastern North Carolina, explained to me privately afterward.) The actors portrayed aquatic and aerial creatures tired of constant motion, yearning for land. They performed along a path in the park, accompanied by violist Brianne Lugo, bringing the audience with them for the hike.
“One day, in the middle of the tree there grew a tree,” Opalanietet said. “And from that tree grew a shoot. And from that shoot came a man. Now, that man would have been all alone, but…”
O’Byrne gestured on his body. “Ow, my rib.”
“Wrong creation story,” Opalanietet corrected, before continuing: “The tree grew another shoot, and from that shoot sprouted a woman. This was the first man and the first woman. And they are the ancestors of us all. We can all thank a humble muskrat not only for sacrificing his life so we can all live on land, but for showing us that with enough courage, each of us has enough power to change the world for the better, and especially for maintaining it for future generations.”
Then Opalanietet sang once again.
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