ABSTRACT
This essay examines the long history of the outdoor drama industry’s exploitation of Native history, particularly through the staging of Trumpet in the Land in New Philadelphia, Ohio. The drama, which opened in 1970, centers on the 1782 massacre of 96 Christian Lenape people by a raiding party of 160 Pennsylvania militiamen – an event now known as the Moravian Massacre, or the Gnadenhutten Massacre. Using the framework of dark tourism, this essay highlights how the drama, which is still staged today, deliberately capitalises on one of the darkest moments in Native history for the sake of the regional tourism industry.
