Six Abolitionists Come to Life in Mount Auburn Cemetery

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A moonlit Autumnal Equinox night, an atmospheric setting, and a creative place-based play. All of these added up to an inspiring, engaging, and educational performance of Moonlight Abolitionists, written by Patrick Gabridge and staged at Mount Auburn Cemetery September 20-22.

In the performance, six abolitionists interred at Mount Auburn told their stories through monologues and conversations with each other. Although I know a fair amount about Cambridge History, and have participated in tours of the grave sites of some of the many illustrious people interred at Mount Auburn Cemetery, I was only familiar with two of the six prior to the performance; Harriet Jacobs and Joshua Bowen Smith.

The six abolitionists included:

  • Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897) - played by Rached Cognata
  • Charles Turner Torrey (1813-1846) - played by Alexander Platt
  • Mary Stearns (1821-1901) - played by Amanda Collins
  • George Stearns (1809-1867) - played by Lewis D. Wheeler
  • Samuel Gridley Howe (1801-1876) - played by Steven Barkhimer
  • Joshua Bowen Smith (1813-1879) - played by Damon Singletary

"Well, as an actor, I was particularly moved by Charles Turner Torrey's story about the families in the jail cell," said Damon Singletary, who played Joshua Bowen Smith. Torrey, who was arrested numerous times for helping to free enslaved people, recounted a tale of being in the cells with entire Black families, including children, who had been captured fleeing enslavement and were awaiting being sold to new slaveholders and never seeing each other again.

Speaking of his character, Joshua Bowen Smith, Singletary noted "I was also struck by the courage and ingenuity displayed by JBS. What a bad ass!"

Patrick Gabridge is an award-winning writer of historical and contemporary stage plays, novels, audio plays and screenplays, inclcluding many site-specific works such as Moonlight Abolitionists. I learned about this play through a friend who was performing in it, and I look forward to seeing and reading more of Mr. Gabridge's work.

Comments

  1. LaurieSeptember 26, 2021 at 6:36 PM

    Excellent review - I agree that the play and the setting were inspirational. Mt. Auburn Cemetery is beautiful at night.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Siobhan BredinSeptember 29, 2021 at 6:58 AM

      Thank you, Laurie! You are my first commenter on this new blog :)

      Delete

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