fugitive/slave/act EXTENSION

fugitive/slave/act 

written and directed Michael Gene Sullivan

Recording of a live ARC Stream

On Demand until Feb 13, 2022

Based on a true story from the days leading up to the Civil War, the Actors’ Reading Collective (ARC)’s production of fugitive/slave/act tells the story of William Parker, the leader of a community of ex-slaves living free, Castner Hanway, his Mennonite neighbor, and Edward Gorsuch, the slaveowner pursuing his escaped "property". The three meet in Christiana, Pennsylvania in 1851, a year after the United States Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law, which decreed that an escaped slave was no longer free simply by reaching a “Free State”.  

So when a group of escaped slaves get wind that their former master is trying to re-capture them, they have a choice: run for Canada or do something no one had done before: stand and fight. They fought, and the bloody clash, known as the Battle of Christiana, almost started the Civil War a decade early. The results: a life altering pursuit of Parker, sensational treason trial for the neighbor who refused help the slave-catchers and a galvanized nation. 

Cast:

Aldo Billingslea*^, Velina Brown*^, James Carpenter*^, Leontyne Mbele-Mbong*, Mike McShane*^, David Moore*^, Cathleen Riddley*, Michael Gene Sullivan*^, Colin Thomson*^, Aaron Wilton*^

* Member, Actors' Equity

^SAG Member