Verbatim texts taken from interviews with former slaves made between 1936 and 1938 as part of the Federal Writers' Project: true testimonies that chronicle American slavery. A strong selection of story-telling, high stakes monologues
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2017, Pulley and Buttonhole Theatre, Philadelphia, PA
2015
Dramatist's Play Service
978-0822232902
NOTE FROM READER: play for voices - chorus and individuals, lots of music; casting flexible - can be performed with 6 - 12 players plus musicians: percussionist and fiddler
NOTE FROM READER: play for voices - chorus and individuals, lots of music; casting flexible - can be performed with 6 - 12 players plus musicians: percussionist and fiddler
The story of a multi-generational black family and the tragic effects of discrimination and poverty in their lives. Gideon joins forces with a drug ring to give his family a better life but the life changes him and he loses his moral compass.
Historical
"In 1965, Africville, the largest and oldest Black community in Canada was bulldozed into memory. What was lost to the politicians of Halifax was an inconvenience, an eyesore. But what was lost to the people whose roots ran deep through the once-vibrant community was an entire way of life. The hamlet’s roots went back to the 1830s, when it began to be settled by descendants of the Black Loyalists, the Black Pioneers and others who fled the horrors of slavery in America for the relative freedom of Canada. Africville flourished for generations as a tight-knit agricultural settlement, and its people had every right to expect the public services available to all other citizens of the Halifax peninsula. Homeowners in Africville paid city taxes, but after years of being unfairly and ruthlessly denied even the most basic of modern conveniences, including electricity, running water, and a proper sewage system, which were readily available to all of the rest of the citizens of Halifax, the decision by city officials to locate the municipal dump a stone’s throw from Africville created a rat-infested, slum-like environment for the already beleaguered neighbourhood. Condemned as unsanitary, its residents were told to sell their homes if they could, before finally being evicted without compensation as the bulldozers moved in. The final injustice was that part of Africville was demolished to make way for an off-leash dog park; the rest of the land was used to build the approaches to the A. Murray MacKay Bridge. In Consecrated Ground, the struggle of Africville’s residents to save their homes and their dignity is retold. With tremendous wit and gravity, we are taken back to Africville on the verge of extinction, making us a gift of characters believable in their vulnerabilities, their courage and their outrage" - from the publisher
