Up and Down the River, co-written by Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel and Madeline Sayet, who also directs, is a series featuring five stories that speak to the struggles of Mohegan leaders from the 16th through 20th centuries, along the river the Tribe calls home.

Each story offers a glimpse into a way of seeing the world, a time in history, and the sacrifices all Mohegans had to make to preserve the future of the Mohegan Nation. The audio for five episodes of Up and Down the River can be found below. These stories are here for your enjoyment, but are copyrighted and cannot be reproduced. 

Reflecting the importance of Indigenous populations telling their own stories, the cast and creative team are comprised almost entirely of artists who are citizens of sovereign Native nations. Joining Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel and Madeline Sayet (both of the Mohegan Tribal Nation) are sound designer Rory Stitt (Tlingit) and stage manager Amanda Luke (Cherokee/Choctaw). The cast includes Bruce “Two Dogs” Bozsum (Mohegan), Margaret Bruchac (Abenaki), David Uncas Sayet (Mohegan), Kenny Ramos (Kumeyaay), Miles Roe (Shinnecock), Ed Littlefield (Tlingit), Frank Kaash Katasse (Tlingit), Madeline Sayet (Mohegan), Randy Zobel, Erin Tripp (Tlingit), and Madeleine Hutchins (Mohegan).

Up and Down the River is not only a history of incidents in the lives of pivotal Mohegans, it also illuminates the challenging differences and interactions between Native and colonizing populations. When English colonists arrived in the Mohegan homeland on the Massapequotuck River (now known as the Thames River) four centuries ago, cultures clashed due to Mohegan beliefs in a many-spirited religion, matriarchal leadership, extended kinship, and the animacy of sacred objects, landforms, and weather beings.