2019.4.14. Crossing Mnisose - a play

4/14, Sunday, 7:30pm. The new play Crossing Mnisose by Mary Kathryn Nagle at Portland Center Stage. Mnisose is Missouri River. I really liked the stage design: a make-believe river, and few long cloths hanging over the ceiling, resembling sails. The play weaves two stories together. The recent fight of the Standing Rock Indian with Army Corp over Dakota Pipeline, in the play, who bulldozed native culture sites, bullied a local farmer into selling his land for the easement of the dam. The circumstance of the 14 year old Sacagawea's participation in Lewis and Clark's expedition under the tyranny of her owner/husband Charbonneau. Both stories well told, even though in a simplified the way to keep the play in 2 hours. I didn't care for the two budding love stories of then and now. The end is a bit ambivalent. Overall, I enjoyed the play, learned something, and propelled me to read the entire article of Sacagawea on Wikipedia and the chronic of the Standing Rock struggle in the show note.