OWR January Updates: A Musical?
It’s a musical?
Playwright Ifa Bayeza has been immersing herself in the history of the Oberlin Wellington Rescue, and she envisions a musical or a play richly infused with music. And not only because music helps express the epic nature of the narrative, or even because of the rich musical traditions central to the period. It also serves the interest Bayeza has in getting inside her characters, in particular those about whom little has been written. For instance, John Price, the protagonist of our story. We know he escaped a Kentucky slaveholder, and was only 18 years old when a Federal marshal arrested him in Oberlin on Sept. 13, 1858.
“What is the price of his freedom?”
The lives of many of the 37 men arrested for his rescue have been documented. But about young John Price we know almost nothing. Imagining a song for him enables Bayeza to intimately explore his thoughts and feelings, to help us forge a heart connection to this history.
From the Archives:
Music in the form of "map songs" has always been part of the Underground Railroad's history - Follow the Drinking Gourd is an example of one of the few songs still surviving.
Community Connections and an Invitation
“I always loved the stage, the dimensionality of it, the liveness of it… it’s to me the closest we can get to the human experience… a place where community can come together.”
The Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Theater Project began forging community connections last summer, engaging the enthusiasm of representatives from numerous organizations. To name some (apologies to those not included here, in alphabetical order): First Church, Karamu House Theater, Lorain County Community College, Lorain County Community Foundation, Lorain County Historical Society, Lorain County Urban League, Lorain Port Authority Board, Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Oberlin African American Genealogical and History Group, Oberlin College and Conservatory, Oberlin Heritage Center, Oberlin House of the Lord Fellowship, Oberlin NAACP, Oberlin Public Library, Oberlin Public Schools, Second Baptist Church Elyria, Wilson Bruce Evans House Project, and YWCA of Elyria.
This level of enthusiasm reflects a great deal of possibility!
The Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Theater Project has begun assembling an Executive Committee, to help launch this new organization. Please see below its current members. Join us! If you would like your organization to be represented here, contact Debra Wise for more information: dwise@undergroundrailwaytheater.org.
Jeremy Benjamin - Production Consultant
(Director of Theatre, Lorain County Community College; Visiting Instructor, Lighting Designer, Oberlin College)
Jeanine Donaldson - Community Connectivity Director
(Director, YWCA of Elyria)
Elizabeth Hamilton - Oberlin College and Community Outreach
(Associate Dean, Oberlin College)
Annessa Wyman - Local Community and History
(VP, Oberlin African American Genealogy and History Group)
Stay involved!
We're asking for your help growing this project and our community. If you have any suggestions or are otherwise interested in helping during this period of research, please reach out to us!