Can You Break A Twenty?

May of 2006, I was in Knoxville. I had a voicemail that said something like this is Leon's sister in New York. My number is 1-800 something, call me Leon wants to tell you about something, but he doesn't have long distance on his phone.

Leon is a friend of mine. He owns a coffee shop in Cherokee, NC, which is very close to Knoxville. I had never met Leon's sister and wasn't aware of her. When I finally reached Leon, he said, I know this may seem off the wall, but that's why I'm relaying it to you. He then told me that the touristy Summer stock play Unto These Hills was looking for a few guys to play 1830's American soldiers. Leon gave me a number to call. The next day I was doing a dramatic reading with a guy named Cochise. I got the part. I don't think I had much competition. I was given a small weekly salary and a pretty nice apartment.

I didn't have any lines. I also ended up playing a Spanish monk, a preacher, a member of the spirit clan and I've probably forgotten something. I felt like I immediately achieved outsider status within the ranks of other actors, but not in a way that I was left out of their socializing. I was actually invited to parties all the time. I rarely went. I remember going to the casino that doesn't serve alcohol. Lights were flashing bells ringing and I was stoned. I hadn't been stoned in quite awhile. I won $15.25. I came in with $5 and left with $20.25. I don't think I have the gambling gene. I left high with my money watching the cocktail waitress deliver cokes and sprites.


Unto These Hills is about the U.S. government sanctioned Cherokee removal from the area to Oklahoma, also known as the Trail Of Tears. The production that I was involved in was a new one. One that broke stride from the previous, from what I was told. A lot of people didn't like the new one. I had no point of reference. I had never seen the old one. I would see people in Leon and his fiance Natalie's coffee shop that would talk fondly about the last year and not so fondly about this year. I hung out at the coffee shop, hiked, read and tried to find enjoyment in a place filled with fast food restaurants and souvenir shops. A friend of mine says it looks like International Drive in the mountains. He was referring to the touristy strip heading towards the theme parks in Orlando.


Dr. Matt was an ally I had there. He also played a soldier. He was researching his dissertation for UNC-Chapel Hill. He asked if I had ever seen Herzog's Stroszek. I told him I had VHS pirated copy for years. Matt told me the final scene was in Cherokee. I watched it again when I came back from Cherokee. It's a very tragic episode. Leon told me they used real Cherokee cops for the filming. He said some are still cops here. I got a $140 ticket a couple of days before I left. I still say I wasn't even speeding, but I was in a place that has been hit hard by the white man and now the imperial force of McDonald's, Taco Bell etc. have a comfortable grip on the community. I've heard plenty of people say oh the people that live on the reservation and get plenty of money from the casino's. I know that the amount they get is negligible when your employment opportunities are mostly minimum wage or near there.


It seemed like the critics of the play wanted something more entertaining, which I thought sort of whitewashed the history. Leon told me they're like most of America they want to be entertained, but they do take this history very seriously. Leon told me that some Cherokee's won't use $20 bills because Andrew Jackson's picture is on the bill. He was the man who sent them walking west in horrible conditions, all ages, the healthy the unhealthy. Many died of diseases, exposure, malnourishment and on and on. I've worked as a substitute teacher. I've never seen this addressed in the history books that I've seen in classes. Then again how do you really address history and get the feel of pain, context, nuance or whatever you're trying to convey?

Sorry to return to pop culture of the 60's, the 1960's, but I was just watching a series on PBS about sixties music. They kept showing clips of the bands playing in the sixties and then finishing the segment with a reunion shot of old men in dodgy haircuts that emphasized their age by refusing to let go of something that was romanticized and should now just go away. Revival bands, productions that play the pain down, they employ people. People need to make a living.

Have you seen Stroszek? It's about a foreigner in search of the American dream. It ends in Cherokee.