Running Scared, Running Free: Escape to the Promised Land
Back by Popular Demand for Black History Month
Stony Brook, NY – In honor of Black History Month Long Islanders can truly celebrate the meaning of freedom with WMHO’s acclaimed Running Scared, Running Free: Escape to the Promised Land. These riveting live theatrical performances, held over 150 years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, will be a poignant experience about the power of the human spirit and Long Island’s connection to the Underground Railroad.
Sponsored by Empire National Bank, Running Scared, Running Free is an interactive production based on research compiled by The Ward Melville Heritage Organization on the movement of escaping slaves from the south to Long Island and north to Canada. A St. George Production, the drama is set in the mid-1850s and is told through the eyes of “Dorcas,” a female slave fleeing South Carolina. The production shows how Native Americans, Quakers, free blacks and abolitionists assisted in the Underground Railroad through the fascinating use of secret codes in quilt patterns as a vital means of communication. It is estimated that at least 30,000 slaves, and potentially more than 100,000, escaped to Canada via the Underground Railroad.
Performances will take place on selected dates between February 1 – 28 at WMHO’s Educational & Cultural Center, 97P Main Street in Stony Brook Village at 10 am and Noon. Program costs are $12 pp (adults); $12 per student (up to 35 students); $8 per student (over 35 students); Distance learning: $250 per class connection (IP and ISPN connectivity); In-school performance: $1500. The program is aligned to meet National and New York State Common Core Standards and BOCES Arts-in-Education reimbursable.
For reservations and further information call 631-751-2244 or visit wmho.org.
