‘Ink and Elkskin’ showcases spirit of the expedition
Lewis and Clark (center) meet with members of the Otoe and Missouria tribe during “Ink and Elkskin.”
BY ERICA ROGERS History is more than a sparse recitation of dry facts. To find the importance, spirit and context of events, creative license sometimes helps. That’s the approach taken in “Ink and Elkskin,” a play about Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and their Corps of Discovery. It was written by Chicago playwright Carson Grace Becker and produced by Jeffery S. Elwell, Department of Theatre Arts Chairman at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The 50-minute play, performed in Omaha’s Elmwood Park each evening between July 31 and Aug. 3 as part of the Nebraska Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission’s signature events series, depicted the days leading to the First Tribal Council with the Otoe-Missouria tribe—Lewis and Clark’s first contact with Native Americans. The Nebraska Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission wanted to create a legacy when it commissioned the play. “Ink and Elkskin” is not a reenactment but a dramatization of the journey, the people and the determination they needed. Elwell, who met Becker in 1998 at the Missoula Writers Colony in Missoula, Mont., said he enjoyed working with a fellow playwright. “Carson did a really good job of setting up the whole spirit of the journey,” Elwell said.
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