Welcome to the Oberlin Wellington Rescue Project!
Welcome
The history of the Underground Railroad is so central to the evolution of this country that it should be one of America's foundational myths, and yet it is not. We want to change that.
We envision a unique outdoor summer theater experience in Lorain County, staging plays that explore American history and identity through the lens of finding transformational meaning for today.
To Begin…
Ifa Bayeza’s first visit to Oberlin-Wellington
When we discussed with playwright Ifa Bayeza her July 2021 visit to Lorain County, she set the following goals: to begin the research on the history of the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue -- a narrative that she feels offers “humanity in the characters, and redemption in the story”, and to inspire local engagement.
Her visit was jam-packed, beginning with a community meeting with over 50 participants including activists, artists, scholars and students. At Oberlin College’s Nord Performing Arts Annex, Ifa talked about her work and electrified her audience by performing excerpts from her Emmett Till trilogy. And she asked for collaborators: who could help her understand this history? Over the next five days, Ifa met with the Oberlin African American Genealogy and History Group; historians Carol Lasser and Gary Kornblith (authors of Elusive Utopia - The Struggle for Racial Equality in Oberlin, Ohio); Oberlin College President Carmen Twillie Ambar and College Deans; Wellington historian Marilyn Waino and the Lorain County Historical Society; former and current Oberlin archivists, Roland Baumann and Ken Grossi. She took an historical tour with Liz Shultz of the Oberlin Heritage Center; met faith leaders; spent hours pouring over manuscripts with project Dramaturg, Caroline Jackson Smith; and saw the homes of historical figures at the center of the narrative, including Charles Langston and Wilson Bruce Evans. And she began, slowly, to identify what moved her most about the narrative, and what connected with her most forcefully. Why tell this story here? And now?
One evening was spent with project benefactors, Pat and Alan Spitzer. Pat has made it clear that her inspiration is a visionary one: a theater that animates our past, to inspire us toward a more just future. What can we learn from this history, and its connections to our present?
One afternoon was spent, thanks to Jeanine Donaldson and Pat Spitzer, at the 100th stop on the Underground Railroad, in Lorain. What can it mean to stand at a site where such important history was made? How might we enable the act of remembrance to transform us?
On the final day of her visit, we went to Cleveland, where we met with Tony Sias of Karamu House, and explored Oberlin College artist Johnny Coleman's installation, "Constellations As Yet Unnamed" at Transformer Station. Coleman’s piece profoundly and poetically invokes the story of three women escaping enslavement who, on their way to Canada, pass through Oberlin and find that they have no choice but to leave behind the small boy they had brought with them who had become deathly ill. Lee Howard Dobbins was laid to rest in 1853 in the Oberlin Cemetery, where Ifa also wandered.
Thanks to the 70+ community members from Oberlin, Wellington, Lorain, Elyria, and Cleveland who introduced Ifa to this region, and to this history and its present-day resonances. We look forward to staying in touch, and bringing community together again when Ifa next visits, in order to workshop her ideas this early spring, and then to tour work-in-progress readings from her new play in June.
- Debra Wise, Producing Artistic Director, Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Theater Project
Learn More About The Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Theater Project
Help us learn the history and spread the word!
This is the first of what we intend to be monthly newsletters about this project - to share its progress, invite your input, and build community. If you have suggestions to offer to help during this research phase, please contact us!