WHERE WE BELONG at Goodman Theatre Makes Strong Emotional Connection

 

The land along the southern shores of Lake Michigan, now known as Chicago, has been a gathering place for Native people for thousands of years.  People travelled long distances to trade, socialize, and share stories.  The latest of these visiting storytellers is Mohegan theater-maker Madeline Sayet.  A member of the Mohegan Tribe in Connecticut, Sayet was raised on a combination of traditional Mohegan stories and Shakespeare, both of which have influenced her work as a stage director, writer, and actor of new plays, classics, and opera.  After a drink of water as she steps on to the stage, Sayet opens with an acknowledgement of the peoples who have historically lived on the lands where the theatre sits and is currently called home by one of the largest urban Indian populations in the country.  As she shares her story with passion, emotion, and humor, this modern Mohegan storyteller is a welcome guest.

Madeline Sayet in Where We Belong Photo by Liz Lauren

 

 

Goodman Theatre has long offered a platform for emerging artists as well as those who may not otherwise get an opportunity to share their unique stories.  Continuing this tradition, Goodman Theatre presents the Wooly Mammoth Theatre Company’s production of Sayet’s autobiographical, one-woman show, WHERE WE BELONG, in association with the Folger Shakespeare Library, as part of a national tour.

 Sayet wrote WHERE WE BELONG in 2018 and performed the work the following year at Shakespeare’s Globe in London, making her the first Native American playwright to have her work performed in that space.  “WHERE WE BELONG did not start out as a play,” explains Sayet.  “It was more of a confessional.  I wrote it to process the fact that, when I moved home from the UK in 2018, I felt untethered from the ground for the first time in my life.  I was grappling with the question: does missing England, as a Mohegan person, make me a traitor?”   Many young Natives grapple with similar questions, particularly as they gain success in a world outside their Native home.  Are they betraying their family, friends and heritage pursuing a career outside the traditional roles or are they supporting their culture by battling the stereotypes non-Natives have about our people?  Can our Native heritage survive with our feet planted in two different places?  WHERE WE BELONG shares Sayet’s personal struggles between Mohegan culture and Shakespeare. 

Madeline Sayet Photo by Liz Lauren

In 2015, Sayet travels to England to pursue a PhD.  Here she finds a country that refuses to acknowledge its ongoing role in colonialism, just as the Brexit vote threatens to further disengage the UK from the wider world.  Sayet also presents a timeline of her Mohegan history, discussing the ongoing multi-generational damage resulting from broken treaties, forced assimilation of Native youth in residential schools, and the remains of thousands of relatives consigned to shelves in storage rooms.  Feeling alone as the only Mohegan in a land that views her as a stereotype, she discovers the grave of a Mohegan leader who traveled to England in the 1700s to present the case of the Mohegan people to the king.  She finds her devotion to Shakespeare, who always provided sanctuary during times of trouble, more and more conflicted.  Was Shakespeare as much of a colonizer as others of his time?  Sayet struggles to find her place in an increasingly globalized world.

 “The settlers killed something in our souls when they took our language,” Sayet shares with the audience.  “Words are important.  It’s not just what we say, but how we say it.”  For 90 minutes, Sayet passionately shares her personal story, her words.  Under the direction of Mei Ann Teo, Sayet weaves her words along the Trail of Life, moving constantly through the spaces of the almost ethereal theatrical environment created by Production Designer Hao Bai and subtly supported by the compositions and sound design of Erik Schilke. 

Madeline Sayet in Where We Belong Photo by Liz Lauren

Sayet is a powerful storyteller and performer.  Her precious words are shared with emotion and vulnerability.  But Sayet emphasizes what she is sharing from the stage is HER story…not a Mohegan story or an all inclusive “Native story”.  As with most stories, it is constantly evolving.  Sayet explains “This play is like the river.  The sky. The earth.  It holds the stories that came before but also those of this moment, which is ever changing.

WHERE WE BELONG is a powerful and important piece of theatre.  Sayet’s performance is filled with passion and emotion that makes a visceral connection with the audience.  WHERE WE BELONG is one of those rare special evenings in the theatre.  I applaud Goodman Theatre for providing a platform to this talented theatre-maker. 

 

Madeline Sayet in Where We Belong  Photo by Liz Lauren

WHERE WE BELONG runs through July 24, 2022 in the Owen Theatre at Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Deaborn, Chicago, IL.  You can learn more about Madeline Sayet and her work at www.madelinesayet.com.