‘Squatters on Red Earth’ explores connection between Inspirationists, Meskwakis

Swander Woman Productions will present Mary Swander’s new play, “Squatters on Red Earth,” at 8 p.m. June 9 at the Amana Performing Arts Center, Amana. The play will also be staged at 2 and 7 p.m. June 10 at the Wieting Theatre, Toledo.

The play is produced by Swander Woman Productions, a theatre company that creates and tours dramatic performances based on food, farming, and the wider rural environment.

Squatters on Red Earth, is a play written by Mary Swander under the guidance of members of the Meskwaki Settlement, and supported by grants from Anon Was a Woman Environmental Fund (The New York Foundation for the Arts) and The State Historical Society of Iowa, Inc. The drama explores the issue of the white settler land grab from the Native Americans. The core story revolves around a peaceful encounter between the Meskwakis and the Inspirationists, a German Utopian group, all the while the colonialists were forcing the Natives from their land.

By 1855, the Inspirationists had settled the Amana Colonies on what had been Meskwaki land. The Meskwakis, forced to move to a reservation in Kansas, longed to return to Iowa. The state agreed to the purchase, and the Inspirationists helped the Meskwakis buy back some of their own land. Once resettled, the Meskwakis canoed down the Iowa River to trade with the Inspirationists in their communal kitchens. The two groups, both grounded in their own spiritual traditions and a desire to be removed from the outside world, coexisted peacefully together. They exchanged languages, enjoyed trading food, beadwork and blankets. Every year the Meskwakis returned to harvest the lotuses, or water potatoes, that they had planted years before in a wetland that eventually became The Lily Lake.

Meanwhile, more and more white settlers poured into the Midwest and West, in fulfillment of American “Manifest Destiny.” Treaties, Indian Removal Acts, and outright genocide wiped out more and more Indigenous lands and lives. The U.S. government forced the Natives into smaller and smaller sections of land, mandating that they plow up the soil, and “root or die.” Yet, all the while, the Natives had a very sophisticated system of agriculture in place. For thousands of years, they had preserved the integrity of their own prairie ecology. They employed fire, grazing, no-till agriculture, organic pest management, companion planting, and food preservation.

Squatters on Red Earth will resonate with those who have desired a more comprehensive history of the United States. What civilizations, ecological and agricultural systems were in place before the white settlers arrived? And how do they compare to our present systems? What forces pushed the settlers from their European homelands, and in turn, pushed the Indigenous people off of their land? How did the concept of private property evolve? How did two communal groups hidden in the middle of Iowa become an example of peace and cooperation for the rest of the country?

This drama is enacted through the use of a crankie, a medieval puppetry device, designed and built by Shelley Buffalo (Meskwaki Settlement.) Shadow puppets were made by Monica Leo of Eulenspiegel Puppets (West Liberty) The music was composed and is performed by Laura Hudson Kitrell (Coralville), costumes designed and made by Michele Payne Hinz (Cedar Rapids). Brant Bollman from William Penn University (Oskaloosa) directs. Rip Russell (Iowa City) stars in the show with members of the Meskwaki Settlement School Youth Theatre Group.

This performance is free and open to the public. Tickets are first come, first served at the door, or to reserve free tickets, put “Tickets” in the subject line and email agartsoffice@gmail.com.

The play runs for one hour with a talkback discussion following the performance.