During the early 1880s, the process of homesteading a farm in northwest Nebraska was more than just a means to an end. It was a means in itself.

“Almost every tree or every rock seemed to have a special significance,” says Jane Cox, playwright, actress and associate professor of theatre.

The solid work ethic, devotion to honesty and sense of pride that was established by these people has stood the test of time, affecting predecessors more than a century later.

Due to the impact these people had, Cox recently wrote a one-woman play, “The Promise Land,” commemorating the life of a homesteading couple. Through the eyes of the characters of Sarah and James, Cox conveys the trials, triumphs and way of life of this generation.

When was this play originally written?

The play was originally written probably beginning about a year and a half ago. Little sections of it were done in a couple of different places. It was first performed in its entirety in June at “Alumni Days.”

This weekend will be the fourth, fifth and sixth performances of the entire piece.

How did you think of the idea for the play?

I come from a family of fourth-generation Iowans who settled in Iowa. At the time of the bicentennial of the United States, there were farms designated at that time as century farms, meaning that the same family had owned them for a hundred years. In 1976, that was true of our farm and it’s still in the family.

Lots of times when my mom or my dad would talk about the question of what was it that drove their ancestors to come out to the Midwest when they had jobs doing other things.

I did a lot of reading because I was curious about the answers to those questions. In some ways, I think the script tries to answer those questions.

How did you research the history of the 1880s homesteaders?

There are some stories in the script that are about my great-grandparents. There are some stories in the script that are other people’s recollections from other people’s families, and there are some things that came from a variety of sources, like the historical museums in Nebraska and books about Nebraska life in the 1880s.

What do you hope the audience will understand about the life of the homesteader in the early 1880s?

Lots of things. One of the things I’d like them to understand is the courage of the men and women and children who tried it and stayed. One of the lines in the script mentions the fact that we tend to think of courage as something like holding onto the reigns of a runaway horse, but as the character play mentions, it takes even more courage to live 24 hours a day, month in, month out, in the middle of the prairie.

Did you direct the play as well as act in it?

No, Gregg Henry (associate professor of theater) directed it.

What are some advantages to working on one-woman plays versus full-length or one-act plays?

One of the advantages is the fact that it obviously doesn’t require so many individuals to produce and bring it together.

This show has been enhanced greatly by the work of the designers, but it’s been very rewarding to work with Gregg on this script together, and I think many times it’s tedious for the director of a one-woman show, because there’s nothing to do but listen and watch one person, and I’m sure that can get very monotonous. I’ve very much enjoyed the interaction between the two of us in terms of trying to develop the piece.

Are there any disadvantages to working on one-woman plays?

Probably the biggest disadvantage has some relationship to living on the prairie, and that is the fact that there isn’t anybody else to depend on on stage. There isn’t anyone to help you cover if you make a mistake; there isn’t anyone you can cry out “help” to, because you’re there all by yourself.

Do you have any plans to create any plays in the future with a one-woman cast?

Yes — what a surprise! I’m working on a script about Barbara McClintock, who won the Nobel Prize in medicine for her work in genetics. She was an extraordinary human being in many different kinds of ways.

The work she won the Nobel Prize for was done when she was in her 40s, and she didn’t win the Nobel Prize until she was 82. She kept going in spite of lack of recognition in many quarters. She said if you had only a few of your colleagues who believed what you were doing, that and the joy of the work you were doing was enough to keep you going.

It’s extraordinarily interesting to learn about the contributions of individual women in all sorts of different fields.