A new play by Kenthedo Robinson.
Cast: Rommell Sermons, Travis Bergmann, Nicholas Dodge, Sebastian Arteta, Cheanelle Cuevas, Natasha Sahs, Kevin Leonard, Zsay Moore, James Oliver, Jimena Rosas, Marsha St. Julian, Alex Silverman
Mythologized by Native peoples, erased by American history. This is the astonishing story of York, the slave on the Lewis & Clark Expedition.
It is 1804. America stands at the edge of a vast and uncertain future. For Native nations and enslaved Africans alike, the air is thick with fear, upheaval, and possibility. Abroad, the Haitian Revolution—led by the formerly enslaved Toussaint Louverture—has shaken the foundations of empire, compelling Napoleon Bonaparte to abandon France’s North American ambitions. From this global reckoning emerges the Louisiana Purchase, a land so immense it redefines the young nation overnight.
President Thomas Jefferson, driven by vision and anxiety, commissions an ambitious mission to survey and chart this unknown territory: the Lewis and Clark Expedition. History remembers the captains, but it has largely forgotten the man without whom the journey could not have been completed—York, an enslaved African American owned by William Clark.
As the expedition pushes westward into perilous and uncharted lands, York’s strength, skill, and presence prove indispensable. Among many Native tribes, his dark skin and formidable stature inspire awe and reverence. He is given a name that echoes through oral histories: “The Bear God.”
Yet York remains a paradox—celebrated in the wilderness, enslaved within the expedition; mythologized by Native peoples, erased by American history. His life is documented only in fragments, his fate left disturbingly unclear. That obscurity gives rise to legend.
The Lewis & Clark Expedition: The Story of York reclaims the voice of a man long relegated to the margins, illuminating the untold story of power, bondage, survival, and identity at the birth of a nation. This is not merely the story of an expedition—it is the astonishing story of York.
Presented as part of the African American Playwrights Initiative at the ATA.
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