We Are the Land at Tilden Arts Center

We Are the Land is a community devised play that shares the Wampanoag experience. Created by the cast as a response to the Plymouth 400 celebrations, We Are the Land premiered in Plymouth, UK at Theatre Royal Plymouth in April 2023. It was later remounted in Boston at the Cutler Majestic Theater in partnership with ArtsEmerson.

Experience the story of four centuries of the Wampanoag People in this beautiful play filled with song, dance, and spoken word.

The Wampanoag people have been stewarding their land for over 12,000 years across several eastern states, including Massachusetts. After colonization, their voice was silenced. We Are The Land is part pageant, part play, where audiences will hear directly from Wampanoag people telling their story of their relationship to the soil, how it was taken away, and how the nation has re-established themselves in a way that both honors their ancestors and looks toward the future. In collaboration with a multi-talented cast of Wampanoag artists, actors, historians and storytellers, Mashpee Wampanoag tribal members, Siobhan Brown, Hartman Deetz and Kitty Hendricks have brought this incredible event to fruition. After its premiere in Plymouth, UK, and in Boston at Arts Emerson, We Are The Land comes to Hyannis for a very special two performance engagement.

Several members of the cast are also members of the Wampanoag Nation Singers and Dancers.

We Are the Land is produced by Nutahkeemun Artist Collective and Wampanoag Nation Singers & Dancers in association with Tilden Arts Center.

PREPARING FOR THE SHOW Click here for a supplemental guide created by ArtsEmerson in 2023, which includes additional show context, background, and appropriate terminology that may be helpful to know before seeing the show.

“We Are The Land is a testimony of survival and a celebration of culture. It is an astounding show that empowers Native voices and stories. It’s a moving production and audiences are lucky The Wampanoag Nation chose to share such an intimate work.” Ava E. Silva - Harvard Crimson

"The final scene was carried by each Wampanoag player onstage stating their own personal journeys. The diversity within those tales was also breathtaking. I witnessed a beginning for myself, where the words of a Land Acknowledgement are also an invitation to learn and not just reflect. It was a community ritual, as most theatre is, to tell universal stories." Noelani Kamelamela - The New England Theater Geek