Bridge of the Gods or other performance

Title

Bridge of the Gods or other performance

Description

A photograph of a theatrical performance at Pacific University circa 1906-1908, possibly "The Bridge of the Gods: A Tale of Indian Oregon." This play, supposedly reenacting Native American myths, was based on a fictional story written by a white writer named Frederic Balch. It featured characters with names based on actual Native people, places and tribes such as "Multnomah," "Snoqualmie," and "Wallulah." Pacific University students dressed in redface to portray the characters. This photograph appears to show women students on an outdoor stage at Pacific University, dressed as Native girls. The play was very popular and was also performed in Portland, Seattle and other locations. It is also possible that this photograph shows another, unrelated performance; the staging matches that used during outdoor May Day performances around the same time.

Subject

Redface
Theater
Pacific University

Place

Forest Grove, Oregon

Identifier

PUApic_013031.jpg

Rights

Copyright Not Evaluated
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/

Type

Still Image