Dramatic Performance Highlights Slave Narratives
The powerful and moving testimonies of actual slaves from America’s
past are brought to life during a professional dramatic performance at
Alma College.
Actors Bernadette Drayton and Harlin C. Kearsley, using the slaves’ own
words, step in and out of a number of diverse characters in VOICES: Those Who Wore The Shoe, a staged documentary presented at 8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 12 in the Remick Heritage Center, Presbyterian Hall.
The event is free and open to the public. No ticket is required.
The performance is based on interviews with thousands of former slaves
that the Federal Writers’ Project, an offshoot of the Works Progress
Administration, conducted and transcribed from 1934 through 1941.
The actors illustrate what it was like to be a slave through the words
of those who experienced the “horrific reality of being physically
owned by another human being,” said Kearsley, creator and director of
the production.
Kearsley’s adaptation of the interviews incorporates music, dance,
archival photographs and narratives that engage the audience in an
often-neglected part of history.
“Much more than just a Black history program, this is a story of
American history,” said Kearsley, who believes that the hopes,
struggles and emotions that VOICES: Those Who Wore The Shoe dramatically recreates are “experiences that everyone can relate to regardless of race or religion.”
Following the performance, there will be a question-and-answer discussion open to the audience.
Posted: Thu, February 1st, 2007 at 9:17AM
