Scene from "A Summer Memory" at Towne St. Theatre

Photo by Nathaniel Bellamy

JuneteenthVA methodology mixes pop culture activities like paintball, skateboarding, the "Amazing Race" tv show with putt-putt golf, puppets, gardening and almost anything that helps people learn about the wild, unadulterated facts of history!  

 

Juneteenth History plays are always well-researched and entertaining.  

 

Our work seeks to connect the historical dots.  In 1712 on the banks of the James River, a letter written by slaveholder WILLIE LYNCH was shared with Virginia slaveholders looking for advice on how "to build a better slave."  Ironically, despite his disapproval of ruining good property, Willie Lynch still gave his last name to the horrific acts of lawlessness and inhumanity that saw 1000's of Black men hunted, beaten, cut-up, strung-up, skinned, boiled and fried alive in the 100 years between 1868 and 1968.  In 2008 lynching has been replaced by imprisonment with the threat of death.  In the midst of the pain there are also many very inspiring stories like that of James Armistead Lafayette, a Portsmouth, VA Revolutionary-era enslaved Black man who spied on Cornwallis at Yorktown.  His worked helped the newly formed American nation to win its independence, but he did not receive his own freedom for another 12 years.

 

The power of the theatre is that we are able to educate by appealing to diverse audiences of young and old, dark and light, male and female.