The Jackson Elementary Grade 6 Drama Club presents: BLOOD AND SNOW: THE DONNER PARTY’S FATAL FORAY INTO THE SIERRA NEVADA WILDERNESS by Dan Bray

Welcome to Jackson Elementary, where Mrs Hazel's Grade 6 class is about to unveil the skit they've devised for Pioneer Week. What ensues is a pitch-black, fairly-historically-accurate tragicomedy about America's most notorious overlanders: the doomed Donner Party. An adorable meditation on Manifest Destiny, colonialism, and the settler's desire for expansion, even at their own expense... Winner of the Toronto Fringe's 2026 24-Hour Playwriting Competition!

Keywords: donner party, children, dark comedy, colonialism, pioneers, school

Genre: Comedy, Play with Music, Historical
Acts: 3
Run time: 45 minutes
Suitable for students 14+
Content notes: Contains strong language, children swearing, children being violent, children being generally inappropriate, themes of colonialism, children portraying death/murder outdated language/nomenclature and ideas, settler-related fear of Indigenous peoples, depictions/allusions to cannibalism.

Cast size: 7 actors
Female roles: 2
Other roles: 5
Casting notes: Cast contains 5 child roles (aged ~9-12)