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Where We Belong
I've been trying to remember a story.
Can you help me?
A long time ago our ancestors told it to us.
I think it has to do with where we belong.
In 2015, Mohegan Theater Maker Madeline Sayet travelled to England to pursue a PhD in Shakespeare, but her voyage across the ocean became an unexpected journey of transformation. Riding the spirit wind of her Mohegan ancestors who crossed the Atlantic in the 1700s on diplomatic missions to protect her people, Where We Belong is a search for belonging in a globalized world. It is at once a rich investigation into the impulses that divide and connect us as people, but it is also about a wolf that learns how to become a bird and fly.
Can you help me?
A long time ago our ancestors told it to us.
I think it has to do with where we belong.
In 2015, Mohegan Theater Maker Madeline Sayet travelled to England to pursue a PhD in Shakespeare, but her voyage across the ocean became an unexpected journey of transformation. Riding the spirit wind of her Mohegan ancestors who crossed the Atlantic in the 1700s on diplomatic missions to protect her people, Where We Belong is a search for belonging in a globalized world. It is at once a rich investigation into the impulses that divide and connect us as people, but it is also about a wolf that learns how to become a bird and fly.
- GenresPlays
80 pages, Paperback
Published August 25, 2022
23 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 18, 2023
genuinely left me speechless. as soon as i finished, i wanted to start again. one of the plays i want everyone i know to read so i can talk about it with them
July 17, 2024
An absolutely beautiful play about discovering and determining one's place within one's heritage across two very separate worlds. Sayet recounts in brilliant prose and with cutting clarity her experience with leaving home to study Shakespeare "a white man" in England. Her realizations and thoughts about the colonization and survival of her people (Mohegan), and all Indigenous peoples, are gut wrenching. The machinations that she goes through as she attempts to reconcile (or not) her desire to study Shakespeare, and what the study of him and his country entails, is a wonder to read. This is an inspiring and profoundly important work. Although I relish seeing this play performed, the reading of it affected me deeply.
Fave quotes:
"My culture is incredibly complex."
"'The Native' is a trope. There is actually no singular version of Indigenous peoples. We are all unique."
"We are so much more than the fucking Tempest."
"There is possibility in Shakespeare's poetry. Not just The Tempest. We can't be confined to who we might have been in his mind...we have the right to interpret them for ourselves. To indigenize Shakespeare!."
The entire scene: Indians in Boxes.
Fave quotes:
"My culture is incredibly complex."
"'The Native' is a trope. There is actually no singular version of Indigenous peoples. We are all unique."
"We are so much more than the fucking Tempest."
"There is possibility in Shakespeare's poetry. Not just The Tempest. We can't be confined to who we might have been in his mind...we have the right to interpret them for ourselves. To indigenize Shakespeare!."
The entire scene: Indians in Boxes.
November 11, 2023
This was so interesting. It talks about the author's experience with studying Shakespeare and a lot of it is about her personal response to The Tempest. It was interesting to see how her views towards Shakespeare changed. Of course, she still maintained a love for Shakespeare's work. But she found a more critical voice later on, when at first she had a childlike adoration for him and liked to think of him as "anti colonial" with Caliban being a form of Indigenous representation. The motifs of the birds and wolves was so well done, and the way she weaves in elements of Mohegan culture, history and language was amazing. I wish I could have seen this performed live.
March 31, 2025
Part coming of age and part searching for the identity of one's own culture, but entirely powerful.
The strangest of all British customs to me is their distance from colonialism. I don't think they realize what they do. They were thrilled when I arrived as a Native Shakespeare scholar because they thought that meant Native people *chose* Shakespeare as superior.
I might love him, but I didn't choose him.
He is what I live through, in a world that would prefer there be a *last* of the Mohegans.
October 11, 2024
One of the best damn plays I've ever read, especially for one that wasn't intended to be.
May 23, 2025
My Rating:
Writing: 5 Stars
Originality: 5 Stars
Plot: 4 Stars
Characters: 3 Stars
My Personal Enjoyment: 2 Stars
(All Out of 5 Stars)
Total: 3.8 Stars
Writing: 5 Stars
Originality: 5 Stars
Plot: 4 Stars
Characters: 3 Stars
My Personal Enjoyment: 2 Stars
(All Out of 5 Stars)
Total: 3.8 Stars
April 14, 2023
"Most people don't like talking about colonialism as much as they like talking about Shakespeare."
This script for a one woman show reads very much like a collection of essays all tied together with a similar thought: Native languages and Shakespeare. There are so many lines that hit emotionally hard, but it also has quite a bit of humor in it. It's definitely a piece I will be coming back to.
This script for a one woman show reads very much like a collection of essays all tied together with a similar thought: Native languages and Shakespeare. There are so many lines that hit emotionally hard, but it also has quite a bit of humor in it. It's definitely a piece I will be coming back to.
November 22, 2025
A great play reflecting the consequences of colonialism. What a sad reality of erasure of cultures.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews