Connect with us

Create

History meets drama in ‘Roshin’s Wake’ at 620

Bill DeYoung

Published

on

Dorothy Hershman and her husband David moved to Gulfport from Austin, Texas in 2000. Photos provided.

In the mid 19th century, thousands of people in America made the arduous east-to-west crossing along the Oregon Trail, looking for new opportunity. A fresh start. A new life.

It was rough going, as the land was wild, and many would-be pioneers did not make it.

Dorothy Hershman absorbed so much historical knowledge about the Oregon Trail, and those who dared to cross by horseback, by wagon train or on foot, she wrote a one-woman play about it.

Hershman, a resident of Gulfport, performs Roshin’s Wake Thursday, Friday and Saturday at thestudio@620.

Her character is Oognah Donohue, who’s already immigrated from Ireland to the United States, and is now traveling – with her pregnant daughter Roshin – for another destination unknown.

“I love the sound of storytelling with an Irish accent,” Hershman says. “It just works so beautifully.”

As so often happened on that long, difficult journey, Roshin has died in childbirth. Oognah is keening at the crude gravesites of Roshin and her child, but there’s no time for a proper Irish wake – the wagon train must keep moving.

Bad weather, however, forces them to stay put for a while, which means that a small group of her fellow travelers will stay and help Oognah work through her grief, which includes telling stories about members of her family.

Hershman retired in 2015 from Tampa’s Berkeley Preparatory School, where she worked as a lower division Drama Specialist (because she has a Master’s in in Drama in Education, she specialized in working with younger children).

“One of the things that I love to do is what you call process drama, where you explore a subject by going into it and living it,” Hershman explains. “And the 5th grade studied the Oregon Trail. We did that for half a semester. Each time, I would have 15 minutes of research to present to them; then we’d break into small groups and they’d do improvisations.

“For the 15 years I worked there, each year I would research more about the Oregon Trail. And I intended, when I retired, to write curriculum for it, for other teachers. But five years went by, and I just got farther and farther away from wanting to write curriculum.”

During the isolation required by Covid-19 in 2020, she adds, “I kept feeling the Oregon Trail calling to me. And at that point, Oognah started talking to me.”

And that’s how Roshin’s Wake began.

From Austin, Texas, where she ran a preschool and was active in local theater, she’d never been to Florida before interviewing for the Berkeley position.

“They flew me in, and I went from the airport straight to Berkeley Prep, which wasn’t far,” Hershman says. “That was all I had seen.

“By the end of the day, the headmaster was asking me what kind of place I’d like to live – I just said ‘older, funky, artsy neighborhood – and close to the beach would help me sell it to my husband.’

“And one person, the music teacher, just said ‘Gulfport.’”

Tickets for Roshin’s Wake can be found here.

 

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

By posting a comment, I have read, understand and agree to the Posting Guidelines.

The St. Pete Catalyst

The Catalyst honors its name by aggregating & curating the sparks that propel the St Pete engine.  It is a modern news platform, powered by community sourced content and augmented with directed coverage.  Bring your news, your perspective and your spark to the St Pete Catalyst and take your seat at the table.

Email us: spark@stpetecatalyst.com

Subscribe for Free

Share with friend

Enter the details of the person you want to share this article with.