The Trails of Tears: A Drama from the Public Record

David Willinger and Peggy Dean’s The Trail of Tears: A Drama from the Public Record traces the forcible deportation of the Tsalagi, or Cherokee, people from their homeland in the Southeastern U.S. (primarily Georgia) to the wilds of Oklahoma in 1838-39. The play is literally taken from speeches, diaries and letters of the period and is reminiscent of such other documentary plays as In White America and Indecent Exposure. As a dramatic document, it deals eloquently and dispassionately with this mournful episode of American history and will sting the consciences of nearly all who witness it.