(MIDDLETOWN, NJ) -- The Middletown Arts Center, in collaboration with the Dunbar Repertory Company, celebrates Black History Month with the presentation of the Minstrel Show, or the Lynching of William Brown on February 18-20 and February 25-27. Written by Max Sparber and directed by Darrell Lawrence Willis, Sr., this compelling production re-creates the horrific, true story of the 1919 lynching of a jailed black man, William Brown, as seen through the eyes of a couple of traveling, fictional song-and-dance men. The production stars Joseph G. Taylor and Arthur Gregory Pugh.
Max Sparber has taken a shameful, little-noted event in American history and created an engrossing work that seems as socially relevant today as when the harrowing lynching transpired in 1919. The play begins with two fictional, minstrel characters entertaining the audience with songs from the cotton fields. Fate has found the two jailed for disturbing the peace in the Douglas County Courthouse in Omaha, Nebraska along-side William Brown, who is awaiting trial for molesting a 19-year-old white woman. The lightheartedness of the play quickly turns as the minstrels launch into the shockingly, graphic recollection of an angry, 5,000-person mob dragging Brown from the courthouse, then shooting, lynching and burning him before dragging his body through the streets.
Performances take place Friday, February 18 at 8:00pm; Saturday, February 19 at 3:00pm and 8:00pm; Sunday, February 20 at 4:00pm; Friday, February 25 at 8:00pm; Saturday, February 26 at 3:00pm and 8:00pm; and Sunday, February 27 at 4:00pm.
Ticket prices are $20 and are general admission. Purchase tickets online at middletownarts.org or call the MAC Box Office at 732.706.4100. The Middletown Arts Center is located at 36 Church Street in Middletown, NJ (next to the Middletown train station). Free parking is available onsite with additional free parking available in station metered lot weekday evenings after 6:00pm and weekends.
Known to residents of Central New Jersey as “Monmouth County’s African American Theater Company”, Dunbar Repertory Company is committed to its mission of perpetuating an appreciation of cultural diversity and celebrating African American culture through LIVE literary readings, main stage theatrical productions, education programs and services.
The Middletown Arts Center (MAC) is an award-winning, state-of-the-art facility in Middletown, New Jersey that offers performances, exhibits, classes, demonstrations and camps centering on the arts. Its convenient location across from the Middletown train station on Church Street enables easy access and its expanded MAC Annex is minutes away at the Middletown Reformed Church’s Education Building. The MAC is operated by a non-profit 501c3, the Middletown Township Cultural and Arts Council which is dedicated to bringing quality arts programming and events to Middletown and surrounding communities.
