Hanay Geiogamah’s Native American play Foghorn (1973) consists of 11 scenes covering historical moments from the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492 to the Wounded Knee Incident in 1973. Tracing the history and life journey of Native Americans up to the time when the play was written, the play recalls to the present the history of the struggle of American Indians against the invasion of whites over 500 years and represents it on stage. It is noteworthy that the white invasion efforts in the play end up in failure or are overturned by Indians’ playful provocation. Indian actors’ enactment of a ‘performing group show’ in the ending scenes, in particular, is the highlight of the playful provocation strategy. The group show brings back Indian images originally employed and caricatured by white people, and then caricatures these images again in the form of satire, eventually revealing that the Indian images produced by whites are actually distorted and polluted ones. In this process a meta-theatrical strategy, that is representation about representation, is implemented. This stage strategy goes beyond simply mocking the white narrative and further raises a political voice accusing the falsehood and hegemony of the white narrative of American ways and frontier conquest. Focusing on the group performing show enacted in the ending scenes of the play Foghorn, this study examines how the playful provocation and meta-theatrical strategy of Native American actors expands into a political voice that promotes their subjectivity as the ‘original owners’ of America against white supremacy.
Hanay Geiogamah’s Native American play Foghorn (1973) consists of 11 scenes covering historical moments from the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492 to the Wounded Knee Incident in 1973. Tracing the history and life journey of Native Americans up to the time when the play was written, the play recalls to the present the history of the struggle of American Indians against the invasion of whites over 500 years and represents it on stage. It is noteworthy that the white invasion efforts in the play end up in failure or are overturned by Indians’ playful provocation. Indian actors’ enactment of a ‘performing group show’ in the ending scenes, in particular, is the highlight of the playful provocation strategy. The group show brings back Indian images originally employed and caricatured by white people, and then caricatures these images again in the form of satire, eventually revealing that the Indian images produced by whites are actually distorted and polluted ones. In this process a meta-theatrical strategy, that is representation about representation, is implemented. This stage strategy goes beyond simply mocking the white narrative and further raises a political voice accusing the falsehood and hegemony of the white narrative of American ways and frontier conquest. Focusing on the group performing show enacted in the ending scenes of the play Foghorn, this study examines how the playful provocation and meta-theatrical strategy of Native American actors expands into a political voice that promotes their subjectivity as the ‘original owners’ of America against white supremacy.
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