{"id":103599,"date":"2019-06-25T15:32:40","date_gmt":"2019-06-25T19:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=103599"},"modified":"2019-06-25T11:05:50","modified_gmt":"2019-06-25T15:05:50","slug":"possessing-harriet-returns-to-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=103599","title":{"rendered":"ICYMI: ‘Possessing Harriet’ reservations due June 30"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Gregg Tripoli, director of the Onondaga Historical Association, commissioned playwright Kyle Bass to write a play about the circumstance of this poster in the OHA collection.  That play Possessing Harriet will be in its second production in late July at the Franklin Stage Company, Franklin. Courtesy Onondaga Historical Association <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The riveting drama Possessing\nHarriet that debuted at Syracuse Stage in October 2018 will be presented at the\nFranklin Stage Company, Franklin NY in July 2019. The setting of the play is 1839\nat the Gerrit Smith Estate in Peterboro NY where Harriet Powell, a young,\nmixed-race, enslaved woman has found a temporary safe harbor in the home of\nimpassioned abolitionists Gerrit Smith. With slave catchers in pursuit, Harriet\nspends the hours before her nighttime escape to Canada in the company of\nSmith\u2019s young cousin Elizabeth Cady, who became an outspoken advocate for\nwomen\u2019s equality. As both women confront new and difficult ideas about race,\nidentity, and equality, Harriet is forced to the precipice of a radical reckoning\nwith the heartrending cost of freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Onondaga Historical Association in Syracuse commissioned playwright Kyle Bass to write a play about the situation of the $200 reward poster describing a woman named Harriet. This poster is in the OHA collection and is referenced in the performance. Elizabeth Cady Stanton writes in her autobiography of her cousin Gerrit Smith\u2019s introduction to the young woman in the attic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to the theme and\nsetting of the play, the Smithfield Community Association and the Gerrit Smith\nEstate National Historic Landmark have arranged programs before and during a\ncoach ride from Peterboro to Franklin on Saturday, July 13, 2019 to see the\nperformance.  The programs begin at 11:00\na.m. on July 13 at the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark, 5304\nOxbow Road, Peterboro NY 13134. Norman K. Dann PhD will guide a tour from the\nsite of the attic in the mansion to the barn where the horses and carriage\nawaited Harriet for the journey to Canada. When the coach departs at 12:30 a video\nof Kyle Bass\u2019 presentation A Playwright\u2019s Journey for Gerrit Smith\u2019s birthday\nMarch 2, 2019 will be shown, followed by Dann\u2019s background information on the\nfour characters in the play. Dann\u2019s eight books on Peterboro history include Practical\nDreamer: Gerrit Smith and the Crusade for Social Reform (2009), When We Get to\nHeaven: Runaway Slaves on the Road to Peterboro (2008), and Cousins of Reform:\nElizabeth Cady Stanton and Gerrit Smith (2013). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coach will stop at\nthe Chenango County Historical  Society,\n77 Silver Street in Norwich  NY 13815 to\npick up people with reservations in that area \u2013 arriving at the theatre in time\nfor the travelers to take their reserved seats for the 3:00 matinee of Possessing\nHarriet. The coach will return through Norwich arriving in Peterboro at 7:00\np.m. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bring your own lunch or\nreserve a lunch at the Deli on the Green 315-684-3131.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reservations are limited and must be sent by June 30th to assure the coach. Reservations cover programs, coach, theatre seats, plus a donation to the preservation of the carriage barn. Send $55 check or money order with name, email, postal address, and phone number to Smithfield Community Assn (501c3) PO Box 6, Peterboro, N.Y. 13134. Responses to reservations will include travel and updated information. For more information info@gerritsmith.org<\/a> and 315-280-8828.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The riveting drama Possessing Harriet that debuted at Syracuse Stage in October 2018 will be presented at the Franklin Stage Company, Franklin NY in July 2019. The setting of the play is 1839 at the Gerrit Smith Estate in Peterboro NY where Harriet Powell, a young, mixed-race, enslaved woman has found a temporary safe harbor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22367,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=103599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/103601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=103599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=103599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=103599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}