ALTA CALIFORNIA is a project that has been with me for decades.  It began when I immigrated to California.  I was preparing to enter the University of California, Santa Barbara, to study for my Ph.D.  

I took a class in American history at a local community college determined to know some history  of my newly adopted land.  I came with a European attitude to history: power struggles, dominance, colonialism, etc.  These ways of seeing were completely absent in my class.

And so, my personal exploration began: a seemingly simple question.  What had happened to the California native population?  Once it consisted of more than 500 tribes!  Then came the “westward expansion.”   Now there are only 109 tribes, many small.   This took me back to “The Mission Era,” and the dominance of the Franciscan padres.   

I read many history books about the era.  What had happened?  I soon discovered that, once again, “History is written by those who win and those who dominate.” (Edward Said). But this wasn‘t just defeat for the natives.  The secular authorities—notably Captain Felipe de Neve—were also relegated to those forgotten by history.   Moreover, of critical importance, Neve’s “Regalemento,” a plan vital to the natives in the mission and supported by King Carlos, was undercut in a most Machiavellian fashion, by Serra.  Few now know of this.

Nicholl Fellowship wrote of ALTA CALIFORNIA: “There is meaning here. There were themes having to do with racism and faith and the nature of both. The script is also saying something about humanity, and this was well integrated into the piece and arose out of it organically.” 

Now my task was to create a form that melded history with drama and, eventually, a screenplay.  For this I made my central figure a mixed blood: Spanish father unknown, native mother murdered.  He is thrust into a battle of survival and existential identity as he navigates oppressive mission life and brutal colonizers.  And ALTA CALIFORNIA was created. 

After decades of study, it is ironic that politics has caught up with me!  California Assembly Bill, 1821 (2024), signed into law by Governor Newsom, demands the effect of “The Mission Era” and Gold Rush on the native population be taught in schools.  In addition, a museum for the study of the California Natives is now planned for Sacramento.