Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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Freedom Rides Again as The Parchman Hour Comes to the CFRT Stage by JANICE BURTON It had just started getting tense in the South during the month of May documenting their stories. They told him stories of abuse and terror. More in 1961. Little did the people who called the South home know that the importantly, they told him stories of triumph. They talked about how they summer was just beginning to heat up. That month, the first group of young overcame hate with music and imagination. They told him about the Parchman Civil Rights activists boarded interstate buses to make the long trip into the Hour. It was the time when the prisoners came together to sing and act and integrated South. The first group of Freedom Riders, as they came to be generally encourage each other. The state could take away their freedom of known, left Washington, D.C. on May 4, 1961 and was scheduled to arrive movement, but not their freedom to dream. in New Orleans on May 17. The purpose of their trip was to challenge The Parchman Hour was originally staged at PlayMakers Repertory in Supreme Court rulings in Boynton v. Virginia and Morgan v. Virginia, which Chapel Hill. Wiley has traveled to various universities to share the story with challenged the segregation of interstate buses. students hoping to inspire a new generation of idealists. While in Mississippi, The young idealists left Washington, with little or no he was astounded to find that one of the idea of the reactions they would encounter in the Deep Freedom Riders was in the audience. This South. They were attacked by local mobs and did not have young man was a native of Mississippi, but the benefit of police protection. Instead, when the police joined forces with the Freedom Riders. He Cape Fear Regional Theatre presents arrived, the students were arrested for various reasons: was brutally whipped for his involvement. trespassing, unlawful assembly and violating state and local "We were doing the Q&A after the show Jim Crow laws. when he stood up and came up on stage. He As they moved further south, resistance and anger said this was a story that needed to be told," boiled to the front. It came to a head on Wednesday, May said Wiley. 24, when the Freedom Riders boarded buses to head into The show that is set to debut at the CFRT Jackson, Miss. While the buses were surrounded by the is an updated script and features music that state Highway Patrol and National Guard, the students seamlessly adds to the tale. The actors and felt somewhat safe. That feeling didn't last long as the musicians who have been cast have found minute they stepped off the bus, they were arrested. Once that rather than just telling the story, they the local jails were filled to overflowing, the students have found themselves immersed in it. They were transferred to one of the nation's harshest jails, the have been changed by their involvement. Mississippi State Penitentiary, which was commonly known As one cast member explained, "This as Parchman Farm. While at Parchman, the students were show makes you think about what you Songs and Stories of placed on Death Row. They were only issued underwear. would do if you were faced with this kind ma^ /* ?k^^]hf Kb]^kl They were not allowed to exercise or receive mail. of racism, with this kind of injustice. Would All of this was intended to break their spirit. But it didn't. you act? Would you be moved? How would Instead, it allowed them to keep their dreams of freedom it change you?' alive through songs and the use of their imagination to take That's a question that Wiley hopes many them beyond the walls of the dreaded farm. will wrestle with after seeing the show. The stories of these brave students are chronicled in The Beyond that, he believes it is an important Parchman Hour at the Cape Fear Regional Theatre from show in the way it shows the resiliency of March 7-24. The show, directed by the author of the play, people and the way it deals with a really March 7–24, 2013 Mike Wiley, is one of the most anticipated shows of the bloody time period in our history. season. The show will open on March 7 and will "It has been a fabulous journey thus far," said Wiley run through March 24. Throughout the run, during a recent interview. "It has been a pleasure to know and work with the there will be several special events. great professionals at the CFRT to get this production going." Freedom Riders in the '60s Wiley was inspired to write the play following a visit with one of his friends. Saturday, March 9, 5 p.m. at CFRT. "Bill Saone is a writer and playwright, as well as a musician who most Dr. Ekwueme Michael Thelwell, founding chairman of the Department of people know from the Roof Top Singers," explained Wiley. "I was sitting on Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, will talk his porch with him one afternoon in Maine chitchatting about things when about his personal experiences in the Civil Rights-era and give a contextual he mentioned his time in jail in Mississippi. That gave me pause, because I framework for the Freedom Rides. This is a free event. thought I knew a great deal about the man and his history and hearing he had Author Visit been in jail really came out of the blue." Monday, March 11, 7 p.m. at Headquarters Library. Once Wiley delved into his friend's story, he found that he had been jailed Wiley will discuss the play. This is a free event. while traveling as a Freedom Rider. He shared his story of his journey south Pre-Show Conversations and those of his fellow college students. The story gripped Wiley and he Each evening before the performance at 6:45 p.m., there couldn't let it go. will be an informative pre-show talk about the production, "These college kids literally finished their exams and then wrote wills and which will give insight into the time period and the got on a bus and traveled to the Deep South to try and stop segregation," said historical characters. JANICE BURTON, Associate Publisher, Wiley. "I realized this was a story that needed to be told." For tickets and more Up & Coming Weekly, COMMENTS? Wiley spent a lot of time getting to know other Freedom Riders and information, visit www.cfrt.org. editor@upandcomingweekly.com. ThE PaRcHmAn HoUr WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM MARCH 6-12, 2013 UCW 11