Q&A INTERVIEWS
STORY SUMMARY
Henry Brown – is one of the lesser told stories in America’s Black history – but like his enslaved contemporaries, he too lived a life of mythological-proportions. The production tells the story of Henry Brown, an 1850s enslaved Virginia man, who shipped himself to freedom in a 2ftx3ft dry goods box. Henry was not only an abolitionist, but a performer, a musician and published author. Born into slavery in Louisa County, Henry worked in a Richmond tobacco factory. In 1848, his pregnant wife and three children were suddenly sold and shipped away to North Carolina. Brown resolved to escape from slavery and enlisted the help of three friends: a free black man, a white Reverend who reveals his own inner demons as he struggles to uphold a slave-holding Christianity, and a white slave-owning-gambler, who served 6 years of jail time for helping fugitive slaves.
His story is unique not just because he shipped himself to freedom in a box, but how, despite his struggle under the weight of psychological and physical injuries, he still maintained his dignity, his identity, and honor—and then lived to tell about it. He became a well-known speaker for the Anti-Slavery Society and soon sold 8000 units of his narrative which he subsequently adapted into a stage show- which toured extensively. However, he was soon targeted as a fugitive slave and escaped to the UK to find his true freedom.
What approach have you taken to telling his story?
Centered in the belief that we are all born noble our production does not wish to re-enact slavery but does not sugar coat it either. Employing the African oral tradition of storytelling, combined with a Brecthian approach toward uncompromising truth telling, we wish to focus on the triumph of the human spirit and the capacity for human beings to transcend in the face of adversity and as we resurrected the inner life of a people who lived 200 years ago, we also realized that their struggles inextricably evoke our own familiar and damaged present.
“…We resurrected the inner life of a people who lived 200 years ago, we realized that their struggles inextricably evoke our own familiar and damaged present.
”
“…We are being watched by our ancestors that they continually call out to us, present us with gifts of their wisdom; that they bear witness, warn us and inspire us. Yet we rarely have the presence to listen to or to receive that wisdom....”
We started out with the premise drawn from the African oral-tradition that we are being watched by our ancestors that they continually call out to us, present us with gifts of their wisdom; that they bear witness, warn us and inspire us. Yet we rarely have the presence to listen to or to receive that wisdom. So we wanted this production to inspire the inescapable question: “What lessons will we finally out to us, present us with gifts of their wisdom; that they bear witness, warn us and inspire us. Yet we rarely take to heart from these ancient storytellers and songwriters upon whose soulful wailing - American music was born?” We found the answer hidden in the poetry and musicality of the “negro spiritual” which penetrates to the deepest of levels- in us all.
Our production also wants to give homage to the thousands of (enslaved) songwriters upon whose soulful chants- our musical was born and built. They created this music by any means necessary ....songs of triumph, joys, sorrows. We have excavated these treasures and placed each song in their most authentic setting- within the rarest collection of living artifacts – an American musical.
“…Hidden in the poetry and musicality of the “negro spiritual” which penetrates to the deepest of levels- in us all.”
What do you want to achieve with the show?
Rooted in the belief that theater can be used as a tool for moral reasoning, we hope to create a theatrical experience that bear witness and lifts countless populations out of isolation and disenfranchisement.
“…Theater can be used as a tool for moral reasoning…”
“Our objective is to bridge the divide, to raise consciousness, and break down the roots of racism and bigotry and provide an opportunity for a healing and spiritual perspective.”
We wish to introduce audiences to a new framework of experiencing theater where audiences can come together in meaningful conversation and social action through a post-show audience driven workshop- that inevitably reveals how dialogue and empathy are inextricably linked. Our objective is to bridge the divide, to raise consciousness, and break down the roots of racism and bigotry and provide an opportunity for a healing and spiritual perspective
““Reveals how dialogue and empathy are inextricably linked.”
About Mehr Mansuri…
My name is Mehr Mansuri and I am a theater-practioner and educator who is credited for the writing of this highly collaborative project. I am an Iranian-born, British schooled, US citizen, who, as a member of the Baha’i Faith, the largest non-Islamic minority religion in Iran, had to escape our native Iran with my family, due to religious persecution. We were simply seeking freedom of conscience…
In collaborating with African American artists and authors over the last 30 years, I found cultural synergy in our mutual oral traditions of storytelling, but I soon realized that our collaboration was offering audiences much more than an opportunity for cultural appreciation and preservation, but an opportunity for audiences to also seek and find relief in ‘freedom of conscience’ but a different kind of freedom and different kind of conscience.
A freedom of conscience that recognizes that we cannot and must not sit still in these tumultuous times where racism is all but sanctioned, a freedom of conscience where we did not readily and unquestioningly accept history books that removed the truth, misled young readers and distorted humanity’s nastiest past, brutal inclinations and darkest days….but rather we found the courage to confront our past…and perhaps forge new paths towards a future of truth, beauty and true nobility…and there by achieve a new freedom. A freedom of conscience.
How did you come upon producing Henry’s story?
Serving a mostly African American population in New York City public schools- we wondered why the American musical theater cannon had no musical based on the triumphs and heroisms found in its history. We wanted African American students to see their own heroes in American History.