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The Centre Theater
The Theatre Alliance of Philadelphia
The Norristown Arts Hill
Philadelphia's Off-Broadway Experience
Iron Age Theatre
and The Norristown NAACP Youth Council.
Present
Juneteenth
A Celebration of Black History
In Norristown
June 19 from 11am to 2 pm PM
Begiining at The Centre Theater
A Walking Tour of Downtown Norristown Including performances at each of seven stops of value to the Norristown African American Experience.
On June 19th , Juneteenth, Norristown, through the hard work of Iron Age Theater and the NAACP Youth Council of Norristown, will celebrate the freeing of the slaves in a theatrically dynamic way. Guests will take a walking tour of sites of Black historical relevance and at each stop, see a scene or monologue that augments the theme of freedom and slavery.
The tours begin at The Centre Theater at 208 DeKalb Street in Norristown from 11 am into 2 pm with a tour leaving every 20 minutes. This free event will include a walking tour of downtown Norristown and visiting seven Underground Railroad sites or places significant to Norristown’s Black history. At each location a professional actor will perform a scene, monologue or poem that reflects the ideas and issues of the African American experience. The tours will be led by members of the NAACP youth council who will explain some of Norristown’s History and the significance of the locations while showing the heart of Norristown. This teaming of professional actor, youth guide and historical location make for an educational experience that touches both sides of the event, the performers and the audience. Professional actors will perform the scenes including sequences from works by Keith Glover, Ed Shockley, Martin Luther King and Chris Braak.
John Doyle, Artistic Director of Iron Age Theater, stated ”Bringing actors into the streets is invigorating. We did this during the April Arts Hill Launch Celebration to incredible success.”
Students from the NAACP Youth Council will share a bit of Norristown’s History during the walk, which covers about eight blocks.
Ernie Hadrick, vice president of the Norristown NAACP, stated “This is a chance for the fulfillment of a dream. To bring people to our town and expose them to the exciting places could not be better for the town. Our rich history deserves to be accessed.”
The stops include Zummo’s Hardware on Norristown’s Main Street a stop on the underground railroad and Penn Street, the birthplace of Charles Blockson, noted historian. The Montgomery County Prison, closed for years will have its doors open for the day and will host a performance of Martin Luther King's letter from a Birmingham Jail. The Montgomery County Courthouse, which overlooks the site of the First Baptist Church, now gone, where Sojourner Truth and Fredrick Douglas spoke and invigorated the Underground Railroad and abolitionist movement in region. The tour will also include the site of the abolitionist organization on Anne Street and the Black veteran's memorial on Hancock Square at the Montgomery County Courthouse.
John Doyle also stated “Our actors are passionate and talented. I love working with them and their commitment to their craft and the material is thrilling.”
The cast includes. Tiffany Joyner, Richard Stevens, Maurice Tucker, Walter DeShields, Mike Way, Seidah Hill Durante, Bob Weick. Tucker, DeShields and Stevens are veterans of the potent theater company GoKash productions and Tucker appeared in the recent film, “IV Degrees”. Stevens is one of the most active black actors in the region and recently appeared in “The Life of John Henry” and “ A Soldier's Play.” Tiffany Joiner and Mike Way are long time Iron Age Theatre veterans. Bob Weick was recently seen in the national tour of “Marx in Soho” by Howard Zinn and “Grace and the Art of Climbing.”
Doyle stated “We picked each piece to assure that it would play well as a scene not only as an accent to the locations.”
This project is firmly in the hands of the Youth Council of Norristown's NAACP. President, Brionna Milligan, is focused on bringing her organizations best to the event. Hadrick also stated ”The students of the Youth Council are real go getters. They have been activated politically and now will share their love of their heritage as part of the tour. They get to learn while they serve.”
The tours will begin with an eleven minute documentary about the history of segregation in Norristown originally created for the NAACP 2008 Annual Lunch. This video spotlights many Elderly African Americans who recollect their lives in the town early in the 20th century and reflect on the changes that have happened. Rather than a rushed automotive tour, the sponsors decided to take people through town at a slower pace. Hadrick commented “Walking through Norristown will assure people have the time to see the beautiful architecture around our downtown.”
At each stop, water and snacks are provided by Shop Rite. There will be food vendors as well. Some funding is being provided by TD Bank. This program allows us to continue the economic revitalization of Norristown’s downtown connected to the newly inaugurated Arts Hill. It also is an opportunity for the NAACP to make real a dream of focusing on the significant black history in town and sharing that with the region.
Working together the Centre Theater and Iron Age Theatre have been one of the most critically acclaimed companies in the area for over fifteen years. The Philadelphia City Paper called the companies, The area’s most under appreciated professional theater. Receiving Barrymore nominations for their productions the company has premiered six plays in the past two years including last falls hit “The Life of John Henry,” “Citizen Paine,” “Waiting for the Ship from Delos,” and Jeffrey Hatcher’s “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” They brought plays to packed houses during Fringe Festivals ranging from the east coast premiere of the hilarious “Shakesploitation” to Amiri Baraka’s intense “Dutchman” performed at the African American Museum and featured on the cover of Theatre Journal. The Iron Age production of Howard Zinn’s Marx in Soho has gone on to tour the nation for the past four years in over 180 venues.
Toby Zinman of The Philadelphia Inquirer said about the company’s last foray into dramatic history: “ Iron Age Theatre has found a perfect venue for this intellectually satisfying play. The issues are relevant enough: freedom of thought and civic responsibility.”
The NAACP Youth Council is a dynamic facet of the Norristown NAACP, which recently celebrated it 50th anniversary. The Youth Council has held a Anti Violence Rally in Downtown Norristown, a series of cooking classes and their yearly retreat. The group of young adults also visited the Great Debate at Yale University. They were part of the Arcadia Black Youth Development Symposium. Their volunteer activities in Norristown are an important part of the community's revitalization.
In 1994, Iron Age helped open the historic Eastern State Penitentiary with the original play Tunnel which chronicled the infamous 1945 escape. Iron Age created site specific pieces to help raise funds for the crumbling old penitentiary and their “Haunted Cellblocks” were the precursor to the fabulously successful “Terror Behind the Walls” Halloween fright fest. They also produced the original “Bastille Day Spectacle”
Iron Age Theatre is deidcated to intense, passionate, creative, theatre focused on the human condition and social justice and created organically and collaborativly. Iron Age Theatre is A Non-profit 501(c)3 organization.
For more information or to reserve a time on the tour, call 610-279-1013 or email juneteenthnorristown@gmail.com
Read more about the production.
The Youth Council Web Site