Event Postponed due to Governor's order
If you've registered for a seat, you will be notified via email as soon as a new date is determined and your seat will be reserved unless we're told otherwise
Thank you for your understanding.
Stay healthy so we can see you all in the new year.
The story of the first North Dakotans, told in their own words. Voices of Dakota Prairie tells the extraordinary stories of courage, perseverance, humor and faith of the first North Dakota homesteaders
Written and Directed by Daniel Bielinski
Free will admission. Space is limited, reserve your seat today!
Sunday, November 22
2 PM
Rough Rider Center
Free Will Admission
Space is limited to adhere to COVID-19 Restrictions and Safety
Click here to reserve your ticket
Built upon the actual 1st-hand accounts of early Dakota settlers, Voices of Dakota Prairie also integrates poetry, music, and dance from the era, along with original dramatic scenes. The result is a powerful theatrical experience for North Dakota audiences.
This new play is set during the settling of the Dakota prairie 1870-1910, and it integrates first-hand accounts from Dakota settlers with song, dance, and poetry from the era to craft an immersive theatrical experience for our audiences. The settling of Dakota Prairie is an extraordinary tale of hardship, sacrifice, perseverance, and faith. By connecting to the stories of our ancestors, we learn much about ourselves.
The “Voices” Series
Voices of Dakota Prairie is the second in a series of “Voices” plays, which use first-hand accounts of early Dakotans to tell North Dakota stories. The first play was Voices of the Great War, which used actual letters written by North Dakota soldiers and nurses during WWI to tell the story of their front-line experience in France in 1917-1918. Future plays in this series include Voices of the Badlands (the story of the first cowboys and ranchers in Dakota); Voices of Dakota Natives (the story of the Native Americans who lived here as the first white settlers arrived); Voices of Dakota Towns (the story of the rise of the first towns in Dakota Territory).
Design/Methodology/Approach
“My mother, after being on the prairie a month or so, became so lonely that she couldn’t endure it,” wrote James Buttree in 1879. His family had just moved to their land claim south of Grand Forks. “She had come from civilization and found herself in a flat country without a tree, with neighbors sparse and miles away, without means of visiting except walking or ox team, and either mode of traveling meant a desperate battle with mosquitoes” (The Way it Was, book 1, p. 17). What was the experience like settling the great Dakota prairie? What hopes drew people such as Buttree and his family to suffer such isolation and hard work? How did their cultural resources help them face their challenges? What tensions in families and between communities created dramatic stories of personal suffering and growth? “The high plains, the beginning of the desert West, often act as a crucible for those who inhabit them,” wrote Kathleen Norris in Dakota: A Spiritual Geography. How did this crucible affect the souls of the Buttree family and others like them? These are some of the questions our theater production addresses.
A collaborative project between the University of Mary History and Theater programs and the Bismarck State College Theater program.
This production has received support not only from Bismarck State College and the University of Mary, but also from the State Historical Society, the Long X Arts Foundation, the Pioneer Museum of McKenzie County and Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation
If you've registered for a seat, you will be notified via email as soon as a new date is determined and your seat will be reserved unless we're told otherwise
Thank you for your understanding.
Stay healthy so we can see you all in the new year.
The story of the first North Dakotans, told in their own words. Voices of Dakota Prairie tells the extraordinary stories of courage, perseverance, humor and faith of the first North Dakota homesteaders
Written and Directed by Daniel Bielinski
Free will admission. Space is limited, reserve your seat today!
Sunday, November 22
2 PM
Rough Rider Center
Free Will Admission
Space is limited to adhere to COVID-19 Restrictions and Safety
Click here to reserve your ticket
Built upon the actual 1st-hand accounts of early Dakota settlers, Voices of Dakota Prairie also integrates poetry, music, and dance from the era, along with original dramatic scenes. The result is a powerful theatrical experience for North Dakota audiences.
This new play is set during the settling of the Dakota prairie 1870-1910, and it integrates first-hand accounts from Dakota settlers with song, dance, and poetry from the era to craft an immersive theatrical experience for our audiences. The settling of Dakota Prairie is an extraordinary tale of hardship, sacrifice, perseverance, and faith. By connecting to the stories of our ancestors, we learn much about ourselves.
The “Voices” Series
Voices of Dakota Prairie is the second in a series of “Voices” plays, which use first-hand accounts of early Dakotans to tell North Dakota stories. The first play was Voices of the Great War, which used actual letters written by North Dakota soldiers and nurses during WWI to tell the story of their front-line experience in France in 1917-1918. Future plays in this series include Voices of the Badlands (the story of the first cowboys and ranchers in Dakota); Voices of Dakota Natives (the story of the Native Americans who lived here as the first white settlers arrived); Voices of Dakota Towns (the story of the rise of the first towns in Dakota Territory).
Design/Methodology/Approach
“My mother, after being on the prairie a month or so, became so lonely that she couldn’t endure it,” wrote James Buttree in 1879. His family had just moved to their land claim south of Grand Forks. “She had come from civilization and found herself in a flat country without a tree, with neighbors sparse and miles away, without means of visiting except walking or ox team, and either mode of traveling meant a desperate battle with mosquitoes” (The Way it Was, book 1, p. 17). What was the experience like settling the great Dakota prairie? What hopes drew people such as Buttree and his family to suffer such isolation and hard work? How did their cultural resources help them face their challenges? What tensions in families and between communities created dramatic stories of personal suffering and growth? “The high plains, the beginning of the desert West, often act as a crucible for those who inhabit them,” wrote Kathleen Norris in Dakota: A Spiritual Geography. How did this crucible affect the souls of the Buttree family and others like them? These are some of the questions our theater production addresses.
A collaborative project between the University of Mary History and Theater programs and the Bismarck State College Theater program.
This production has received support not only from Bismarck State College and the University of Mary, but also from the State Historical Society, the Long X Arts Foundation, the Pioneer Museum of McKenzie County and Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation