A small, amazingly talented crew of artists created a dystopian future in a black box theater for the 2017 production of my play BURNERS (director: Sara Wagner, scenic/prop design: Glenn Michael Baker, lighting design: Martha Carter, costume designer: Michael Mullen, sound design: Joseph “Sloe” Slawinski, helmed by producer Cece Tio).
And as you can see from the video I cut, the actors literally kicked ass every night for weeks.
Check out the BURNERS page for more video, photos and some in-world content.
Many slaves continued to escape from their Texas nightmare throughout the antebellum period by fleeing to Matamoros. Contrary to the patriotic rhetoric that continued to echo across the United States, the land of liberty for America’s slaves lay south of the Rio Grande border, where people of African descent were fully incorporated into everyday life with an ease and smoothness unimaginable in the United States, especially in the Deep South.
– America’s Forgotten First War for Slavery and Genesis of The Alamo, Phillip Thomas Tucker
Excerpts from my research for THE HOUSE OF THE NEGRO INSANE at the Library of Virginia archives (Richmond, VA), July 2017:
Records from The Central State Hospital (the first institution in the country for “colored persons of unsound mind”).
Commitment papers of Isham Motley, 1874 Q: What is the party’s age and where from? A: Born in Pittsylvania County and aged 17 years Q: How long since indications of insanity appeared? A: About three weeks since Q: What are they? A: A general derangement Q: Is his derangement envinced on one or several subjects, what are they? A: Several subjects especially religion Q: Whether any and what restraint has been imposed on him? A: Been kept tied all the time
Deposition of Matilda Payne, 1876 … she is evidently of unsound mind, will not work, has no visible means of support has no profession and she takes offense whenever anyone offers employment, she is constantly rambling over the neighborhood, which she is not disposed to be [turbulent?] yet she will become offended and a little boisterous at times, when approached by some and asked to work for a living. I have known her for 3 years, she has been insane all this time.
Lucy E. Smith, 1906 Q: Value of self or husband; of parents, if patient is a minor? A: None Q: State fully the symptoms of insanity A: Excitable, noisy and hard to control Q: What, in the opinion of the examining physicians, are the exciting and predisposing causes of the patients insanity? A: Physical and mental overwork. (work in laundry during the day and study at night) Q: What treatment has been given, and with what effect? A: Tonics and sedatives
