5 Anglo-American m
1 African-American m
2 Native American w
4 Native American m
PRINCIPAL SPEAKING ROLES
WILLIAM CLARK
34 years old, red hair
MERIWETHER LEWIS
30 years old
YORK
African-American, 34 years old
SAKAKAWEA
Shoshone 16 years old
TOUSSAINT CHARBONNEAU
French, 45 years old
SGT. ORDWAY
29 years old
BLACK CAT
A Mandan chief
EAGLE FEATHER
An Arikara chief
INDIAN MAN DRESSED AS A WOMAN
INDIAN WHO STABS HIS WIFE
DOUBLING ROLES
NEWMAN/ JUSSEAUME/ McKENZIE
ARIKARA WOMAN/JUSSEAUME'S WIFE/ WIFE OF INDIAN WHO STABS HIS WIFE/INDIAN WOMAN WITH FOOD
NONSPEAKING ROLES
OTHER INDIANS
MEN OF THE EXPEDITION
TIME AND PLACE
Winter, 1804-5, at the meeting of the Knife and Missouri Rivers, in what is now North Dakota
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Bluest
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And so we begin our years-long celebration of Lewis and Clark, American icons born of our yearning for spotless, perfect heroes.
Or is it time-are we mature enough-to view the two men realistically, admiring their bravery, ingenuity, and resolution, but also acknowledging their flaws and foibles, their disagreements and betrayals, and-the most ignored aspect of their humanity-their sexuality?
Bluest Reason is the story that Lewis and Clark did not write in their journals. By setting the play during the Expedition's winter of 1804-5 in what is now North Dakota, Bluest Reason captures not only the trials and discouragements of that winter but also the issues and personalities that revealed themselves throughout the three-year odyssey to the west coast and back.
Lewis's depression overtakes him; Clark refuses to free York, his slave; Lewis reveals himself a gourmand, dog meat being a favorite; Clark, who was Lewis's superior officer ten years earlier, resents Lewis now being in command; relations with the Native people are fraught with mistrust and misunderstanding; two men of the Expedition are court-martialed, one whipped; the Mandans decide the whites are crazy; Lewis ridicules the Mandans' religious beliefs; the men of the Expedition frolic with the Mandan women—and bring back venereal disease; an English trader visits and runs up against Lewis's Anglophobia.
Yet trust and friendship are eventually established between the Expedition and the Mandans; Lewis reveals his tender side when he ministers to the Natives' illnesses and injuries and when he delivers Sakakawea's baby; Charbonneau, Sakakawea's husband, despite his arrogance and clumsiness, proves a valuable chef; and humor surfaces with heartwarming frequency.
Bluest Reason draws on the latest scholarly edition of the Journals, as well as on other reliable historical sources. Some dialogue is taken directly from the Journals, while other dialogue, while invented, is derived from issues we know from other sources were present.
Running Time: About 90 minutes.
Contact William Borden
William Borden
7996 S. FM 548
Royse City, TX 75189
214-828-1202
borden@hughes.net