Endangered Species
By
Jason D. Martin
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At the most extreme Northwestern tip of Washington State lies a small Native American Reservation
where the remnants of an ancient tribe still live. This small community populated by a people known
as the Makah has twice garnered the international spotlight.
The first time was in 1970. A tremendous storm washed away a hillside, exposing buried treasure. A
five-hundred-year old village surfaced that winter, a village that had been buried by an ancient
mudslide, a village that revealed what this noble group of Natives had once been. Many referred to
the find as the "North American Pompeii." It was the most complete Native American archeological
discovery pre-dating European influence to ever be found.
Indeed, the discovery revealed something about these men and women that the modern world had
helped them to forget. In the past, their lifestyle, their ledgends, their songs, and their dances all
revolved around one thing: the whale hunt.
The second time the Makah found themselves under a spotlight was in 1999. That was the year that
they called upon their treaty rights stating they had the legal authority to hunt for the gray whale. That
was the year they climbed into tiny canoes and chased two-ton animals with spears. That was the
year the protestors came. That was the year the media came. That was the year of dissention among
members of the tribe. That was the year of fighting and of tradition. That was the year they went on
a whale hunt...
Inspired by these true-life events, Endangered Species is an epic exploration of the whale hunt and
of the people behind this event. It is a powerful drama about culture and racism, religion and
tradition, environmentalism and violence... This is a play about people coming to terms with the
modern world that they live in and of the ancient world that has been lost to them. The play poses a
very serious and controversial question: What is closer to the brink of extinction? The gray whale?
Or the Makah culture?