December 15, 2008

An Indian Christmas Carol

Indian troupe revisits Dickens' taleAmerican Indian storytellers Will Hill and Jehnean Washington return with a whole lot of Christmas cheer—and that "Commodity Cheese Song"—in "A Song of Winter."

Written by Hill, "A Song of Winter" is a musical comedy based on Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" but set in Indian Country.

Hill is "Ebenezer Screech Owl," the crabby owner of a rural smoke shop-gas station-check casher-you-name-it outlet. Making life tolerable for his lone employee, Bob Cat Hatchet, and his niece Roberta (Washington), Ebenezer gets the shock of his life when his former partner, Leopold Watts, visits him from the dead to tell him he will be visited by spirits.

A production of Tulsa's American Indian Theatre Company and Mahenwahdose (Hill's and Washington's touring storytelling venture), "A Song of Winter" contains original music, a lot of comedy and a thoughtful interpretation of the timeless "Carol" tale through the lens of American Indian culture.
Comment:  For more on the subject, see Native Plays and Other Stage Shows.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tulsa must be lightening up considerably - the last time I was there in 1985, that town was more whacked out in the Christian fundamentalist sense than was Oklahoma City.

Jacci Carpio said...

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to let you know about my recent experience with someone associated with your organization. I was an employee of Blockbuster. I was terminated due to my emailing Mr. Hills employer/partner. Back to the event that caused such an uproar, Mr. Wilburn Hill came in to purchase a gift card. I asked if he had a blockbuster account to link the gift card to in the event there was something to come up – he cussed me and said that he had a card but wasn’t going to waste his time looking for it. I proceeded to ring the card up and then learned that he was going to pay by check. Blockbuster policy does not allow non-members to pay by check. My manager overheard him cursing at me and came to my rescue. He explained the policy and Mr. Hill did produce a blockbuster card. He had not rented a movie in more than 365 days, therefore was not showing up in our system. My manager updated his account and finished his transaction. The total time elapsed was probably 5 minutes. Mr. Hill verbally attacked the two of us for the total time. All along we continued to apologize for his inconvenience and continued to say we were sorry. He used every curse word I have ever heard no less than ten times. His parting words were f**k you – go to h**l you f****n b***h – screw you , you f*****g homo. I had no idea he was Native American until I came home and googled his name. I too am Cherokee Indian and I am embarrassed to be associated to such an awful person. I cannot imagine speaking to anyone or anything the way this man spoke to me – let alone a stranger. The store was crowded at the time and he showed himself to be a fool in front of 20 or more people. I would highly recommend that you evaluate this gentleman and consider if you want him associated with your organization.

Sincerely,
Jacci Carpio

PS I have adopted through the Cherokee nation and my son has won art awards through the Indian programs.

******This email (but now revised) was sent to the Oklahoma Arts Council and to the company co-owned by Mr. Hill. Shorty after this, I was terminated from Blockbuster. What a shame it is that this behavior is allowed and supported. ***********