Behind The Scenes A Play by Maureen Quilligan and Michael Malone Directed by Francesca Talenti
A former slave who has become a successful dressmaker, an activist and author returns to the house where she once to retrieve a cape and confront her former mistress. The meeting never happened -- but what if it had?
Anna Burwell and Elizabeth Keckly were real people -- and they certainly had "history." As the two women confront their troubled past, their younger selves also appear on the scene.
This ingenious play takes place in the antebellum Hillsborough house where Anna Burwell and her husband operated a girls' school and where Elizabeth Hobbs -- Lizzy -- was a young enslaved servant in their household for seven years. Later, having acquired her freedom and her married name of Keckly, she established a dressmaking business in Washington, DC and became the "modiste" and confidante to Mary Todd Lincoln. These experiences are the basis for her own 1868 memoir, and the inspiration for this play by Maureen Quilligan and Michael Malone.
The play is directed by Francesca Talenti and features actors Jane Holding, Lilly Nelson, Brenda Stephens and Sara Stephens.
NOTE: Adult topics are addressed; this play is for mature audiences.
The audience will move about with the actors, both indoors and out. There may be brief periods when you will need to stand. The performances will take place rain or shine!
