When Cig falls into an ice-fishing hole, he is convinced his bleak life is over. Just before he sinks below the ice, Lena – a woman cursed into the body of a goose – appears to rescue him. She not only shares her love with him, but also her curse.
Swan Lake Bde Maka Ska (pronounced Be-DAY Ma-KAH Ska) is the original Native American name for the largest lake in the city of Minneapolis, MN where this play takes place. Bde Maka Ska was renamed Lake Calhoun, honoring John C. Calhoun, the former Vice President of the United States, a proponent of slavery and of Native American removal. On May 13, 2020, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources had the authority to rename Lake Calhoun as Bde Maka Ska.