fbpx

The Frederick Douglass Project:

An Eloquent Fugitive Slave Flees to Ireland

by Psalmayene 24

&

Wild Notes

by Deirdre Kinahan

Directed by Bobby Bermea

A staged reading of 2 short plays, accompanied by discussion and community voices.

October 9th 7:00 PM at 21ten Theatre
October 13th 7:00 PM at Cerimon House

Recommended for ages 12 and up.

Season sponsor: Ronni Lacroute

A cross-cultural examination of freedom. 

This duo of short plays imagines Frederick Douglass’s meditations on freedom and bondage during his historic visit to Ireland. His encounters with white women are particularly complex as they compare how their two nations oppress or empower them.   

Corrib Theatre’s presentation of these plays as staged readings will be accompanied by moderated discussion, panelists, or speakers by Portland-area artists and thinkers.  

"You view those of the human family with darker skin, like me, as inferior. Some even say what you have is an illness of the soul. Either way, the contagion has spread across America like a dreadful plague."

"There are Irish Slavers, Irish Drivers, Margaret. Irish men and women who crush their Black brethren in order to find an American foothold of their own."

Artwork by Jan Baross
Week 1
Conference

COVID: For our 2022-23 season, patrons will no longer be required to show proof of vaccination in order to be admitted to a performance, however we reserve the right to change this policy at any time during the year. In addition, we may require all audience members to be masked at performances at any given time, based on prevailing conditions around the country. Our cast, crew, and staff have been fully vaccinated.

Download program (printed programs are available at the performance).

Cast

James Dixon as Frederick Douglass

Hannah Edelson as Margaret/Ensemble

Jason Glick as Captain Q/Ensemble

Clara-Liis Hillier as Susan/Ensemble

Ambrosia Johnson as Kabite/Ensemble

Peter Schuyler as Roscoe/Ensemble

LeFoster Williams as Kalief/Ensemble

Speakers

Oct 9:

Curtis Maxey

Pancho Savery

 

Oct 13: 

Bobby Fouther

About the Playwrights

Psalmayene 24 (a.k.a. Gregory Morrison) is an award-winning playwright, director, and actor. Psalm—as his colleagues call him—is currently The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence at Mosaic Theater. He is the writer and lyricist of The Blackest Battle (Theater Alliance) and the writer, director, and lyricist of the film The Freewheelin’ Insurgents (Arena Stage).

The Frederick Douglass Project—his play inspired by Frederick Douglass’ 1845 trip to Ireland and co-written with Irish playwright Deirdre Kinahan—was the first play to be produced on a pier at The Yards Marina in Washington, DC and was the recipient of six 2019 Helen Hayes Award nominations. 

Psalm is the recipient of the Imagination Award from Imagination Stage (past recipients include Christopher Reeve, Dr. Jane Goodall, and Dennis Haysbert). He has also received grants from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Maryland State Arts Council, DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, and the Boomerang Fund for Artists Inc. 

Psalm is a proud member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

Deirdre Kinahan is an award-winning Irish playwright. She is an elected member of Aosdána, Ireland’s elected organisation of outstanding artists and Literary Associate with Meath County Council Arts Office. Deirdre collaborates with artists and theatres all over the world and has a large canon of regularly produced plays to her credit. She is published by Nick Hern Books. 

Best Known Plays include: The Unmanageable Sisters, Rathmines Road, Moment, Halcyon Days, Bogboy, Hue & Cry, Melody, Spinning and her Irish Revolutionary History Trilogy Wild Sky, Embargo and Outrage. 

Recent works include The Saviour for Landmark Productions, In the Middle of the Fields for Solas Nua Washington DC, The Visit for Dublin Theatre Festival, Bloody Yesterday for Glassmask Theatre. 

Deirdre has new theatre projects in development with the Abbey Theatre and Landmark Productions and a new opera with Sofft productions. She also has years of experience as a producer and enjoys curating artistic projects and working in documentary, music and short film making.