{"id":520,"date":"2011-10-22T10:02:37","date_gmt":"2011-10-22T15:02:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vandfam.net\/dev\/wordpressmu\/college\/?p=520"},"modified":"2011-10-22T10:02:37","modified_gmt":"2011-10-22T15:02:37","slug":"playmakers-world-premiere-commemorates-freedom-riders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=520","title":{"rendered":"PlayMakers\u2019 world premiere commemorates Freedom Riders"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the summer of 1961, during the first months of America\u2019s civil rights movement, waves of young people rode buses into the heart of the deep South. Mostly college students, the interracial groups challenged Jim Crow laws that segregated interstate travel in the region. Their bravery helped change the course of American history.<\/p>\n

PlayMakers Repertory Company, the professional theater company in residence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will present their story Oct. 26-Nov. 13 in the world premiere of \u201cThe Parchman Hour: Songs and Stories of the \u201961 Freedom Riders.\u201d<\/p>\n

PlayMakers also will sponsor free community events tied to the production beginning Friday (Oct. 7). All are listed below.<\/p>\n

Many of the Freedom Riders were brutally attacked, arrested and imprisoned in Mississippi\u2019s notorious Parchman Farm Penitentiary. There they invented an ingenious pastime to help them endure: a live variety show inspired by programs then popular on radio and television. Jokes, stories, singing and Bible readings sprang from every cell. This nightly event became known as \u201cThe Parchman Hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith characters including Stokely Carmichael and Martin Luther King, \u2018The Parchman Hour\u2019 honors an important piece of history,\u201d said Joseph Haj, PlayMakers producing artistic director. \u201cPlayMakers is proud to give this inspiring new play its professional premiere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Parchman Hour\u201d is written and directed by Mike Wiley, a specialist in documentary\u00a0theater. Wiley was the 2010 Lehman Brady Visiting Joint Chair Professor in Documentary Studies and American Studies at Duke\u00a0University and UNC. He graduated from UNC\u2019s professional actor training program in 2004. As founder of Mike Wiley Productions, he presents original plays to theaters and educational settings nationwide, including\u00a0\u201cDar He:\u00a0The Story of Emmett Till\u201d\u00a0and his stage adaptation of Tim Tyson\u2019s\u00a0book \u201cBlood Done Sign My\u00a0Name.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Parchman Hour,\u201d\u00a0Wiley\u2019s newest work,\u00a0was originally staged in 2010 as a student production by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke and UNC\u2019s dramatic art department. The student production also was featured in a workshop in 2010 as the final event of the Freedom Riders\u2019 50th anniversary commemoration in Jackson, Miss.<\/p>\n

The Independent Weekly has called Wiley \u201cone of this region\u2019s foremost monologists and playwrights\u201d and \u201cThe Parchman Hour\u201d \u201ca strong \u2013 actually, make that necessary \u2013 reminder, not only of the starkest realities of the segregated South, but of the astounding resilience of those who chose to stand against it.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Oct. 19 at 6:30 p.m., PlayMakers will host \u201cThe Vision Series: Directors in Conversation\u201d with playwright\/director Wiley. Theater-goers and others interested in the creative process are invited to the Paul Green Theatre to share refreshments and a behind-the-scenes preview of the upcoming production.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Vision Series\u201d is free to the public. Reservations are encouraged, as space is limited. Call PlayMakers\u2019 box office at (919) 962-7529 to RSVP.<\/p>\n

Performances of \u201cThe Parchman Hour\u201d will be in the Paul Green Theatre in UNC\u2019s Center for Dramatic Art on Country Club Road. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays; 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 5; and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $10 to $45. For a schedule, information and related events and to purchase tickets, call (919) 962-PLAY (7529) or visit www.playmakersrep.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Community and educational events surrounding the production include:<\/p>\n