Native Radio Theatre comes to Cherokee High School

by Candice Felice

CHEROKEE, N.C.—On Friday, May 2, 2008, the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation’s High School students recorded, The Bullfrog Lover, before a live audience of community leaders, school faculty and family in the school’s auditorium.  

The program is due to air later in November on national satellite feed and worldwide webcasting.  The radio production of, The Bullfrog Lover, will coincide with National Native American Heritage Month. 

The drama was adapted for radio from the Myths of the Cherokee, Mooney, 1900, by writer and director, Robert Vestal, a Cherokee descendant, who is currently living and working in Los Angeles, California as a film and theatre actor.  The tale teaches the importance of seeing the good in life.

The cast comprised many students from the Cherokee High School theatre and radio class, John Tooni, Chris Davis, Lloyd Blythe, Amber Ledford, Sabrina Taylor, Bryce Hicks, Steven Lambert, Frank McCoy, Kyle Pete, Kailey Harris, Flutist, Kea We Bone and Instructor, Shawn Crowe.

Also, as NRT’s promotions specialist, Crowe brought community wide support to the radio project.

The production specialist were NRT Project Coordinator, “Kutchiak” John Gregg, Technical Director, Janine Marr, Assistant Director, Candice Felice, a member of the Cherokee Nation, Cultural and Language Specialist, Myrtle Driver-Johnson, Oconalleftee Indian Village Manager, Shirley Cloer.

The local contributing sponsors for the project were Harrah’s Cherokee Casino, The Cherokee Preservation Foundation, The Eastern Band of Cherokee High School, The Eastern Band of Cherokee Youth Center, Holiday Inn, Cherokee, N.C., Best Western, Cherokee, N.C., Cherokee High School Principal, Jason Ormsby and Vice Chief, Larry Blythe.

In 2005, Native Radio Theater (NRT) was formed to re-tell legendary Native stories using Native voices.

Two years later in 2007, NRT produced its first youth project with the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation’s High School students with the radio adaptation of Why Opossum’s Tail is Bare, which was broadcast via satellite to more than 30 Native radio stations across the country and carried by many NPR affiliates and webcast worldwide.