Manahatta (play)

Manahatta is a dramatic play written by Mary Kathryn Nagle. The play takes place in 21st century Oklahoma, as well as both 21st and 17th century Manahatta (popularly known as Manhattan Island). The show follows Jane Snake as she rises the ranks of Wall Street investment firm Lehman Brothers in the years leading up to and during the 2008 financial crisis. Meanwhile, her family, specifically her mother, Bobbie, faces financial ruin following the death of her husband. The show also mirrors its characters in early 17th century Manahatta, depicting the arrival of Dutch settlers representing the Dutch East India Company, who subsequently take the land of and massacre the Delaware Lenape people, beginning the process of driving them out of Manahatta and Lenapehoking.

The show seeks to draw parallels between the original process of colonization and genocide towards Native Americans during the colonial era in what would become the United States to the continued colonial process and removal/denial of culture, perpetuated in part by the system of capitalism.

Manahatta features usage of traditional Lenape language throughout the show. Many of its sequences in the 17th century are based on historical record, portraying the invasion of the Dutch into Manahatta, and the "purchasing" of Manhattan from the Delaware Lenape by the Dutch East India Company. These scenes are juxtaposed with the characters in the 21st century, who are portrayed by the same actors, performing "mirrored" storylines to each other. Peter Minuit, who performed the "purchase", is a featured character in the show, mirrored with Richard S. Fuld Jr. of Lehman Brothers. The name Se-ket-tu-may-qua (translated to Black Beaver in English), which is the name of Luke's mirrored character, is the name of a 19th-century Lenape leader who led Union soldiers hundreds of miles during the Civil War. Jonas Michaelius, Michael's mirrored character, is the name of a Dutch clergyman who was involved with colonizing Manahatta.