Dunn County, Wisconsin

Three Bone Theatre closed its 14th season with "Sovereignty," a play by Mary Kathryn Nagle directed by Carolyn Dunn, running Aug. 27-Sept. 6 in Charlotte. The story follows Sarah Ridge Polson, a descendant of Cherokee leaders John Ridge and Major Ridge, as she returns home and confronts the legacy of the 1835 treaty that led to the Trail of Tears. The narrative moves between the present day and the 1830s, contrasting Polson's fight to reinstate Cherokee sovereignty before the U.S. Supreme Court with the historical rift between the Ridge family and John Ross, the Cherokee Nation's chief at the time, whose descendant Jim Ross becomes entangled in Polson's present-day story.

The review praises the cast, particularly Mvnte July's dual performance as both Rosses, while noting the script sometimes states its themes explicitly rather than letting scenes carry them. It highlights the production's engagement with white nationalism, land dispossession, and the complexity of historical judgment.