Press release from Tryon Fine Arts Center:
Who: Actor, director, playwright Mike Wiley
What: One Noble Journey: A Box Marked Freedom one-man docudrama performance
When: Thursday, October 18, 2018. 7pm.
Where: Tryon Fine Arts Center, Veh Stage. 34 Melrose Ave, Tryon, NC 28782
Cost: $20 Adults, $10 StudentsMulti-talented performer Mike Wiley brings the fight for freedom to life with his original work One Noble Journey: A Box Marked Freedom.
The one-man documentary theater performance takes place at Tryon Fine Arts Center on Thursday, October 18 at 7pm as part of the Something Different Series of innovative performances and creative conversations.
One Noble Journey: A Box Marked Freedom tells the true story of Henry “Box” Brown, an African American who was born a slave in 1816 in Louisa County, Virginia. When Brown witnessed his wife and children taken from him and sold to another state, he reached his breaking point and devised an escape plan that would have him sealed in a small wooden box and shipped to friends and freedom in Philadelphia.
In this original historical drama from writer, director, and actor Mike Wiley, Brown’s life unfolds like a Mark Twain adventure, perilous and somber at times while humorous and heroic throughout. As is almost a trademark of Wiley’s one-person, multi-character theater works, audience members join Wiley on stage, quickly and comfortably becoming pivotal players who help propel the historic action.
Within One Noble Journey is embedded the miraculous true account of William and Ellen Craft’s escape from slavery. This pre-civil war “cloak and dagger” tale recounts the numerous times they escaped capture. Like Henry “Box” Brown, the story of perseverance, bravery and hope inspires with the Craft’s fight for freedom and what’s right.
Mike Wiley is a North Carolina-based actor & playwright whose compelling works of documentary theatre yield rich and powerful journeys to milestones and turning points of a cultural history. With a remarkable ability to inspire dialog, his creative vision and talents are broad and magnetic, and he shares a gift that helps audiences and communities start to peel layers of misunderstanding. When a curtain comes down on a Mike Wiley performance, the experience has far from “ended.” It’s much more likely that light may have seeped through, that a stubborn door may have just nudged open.
The Thursday, October 18 performance of One Noble Journey: A Box Marked Freedom is appropriate for all ages. Tickets and additional information are available at tryonarts.org or by calling 828-859-8322.
The Something Different Series is made possible by a grant from the Kirby Innovative Events Fund of Polk County Community Foundation.
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