Carrboro ArtsCenter wants to ‘Let Them Be Heard’

Triangle-based Bare Theatre first brought the stories of eight former slaves to life on the largest plantation from pre-Civil War Durham last year.

And now, the theater is bringing those stories to the Carrboro ArtsCenter this weekend with its original production “Let Them Be Heard.”

The show adapts several interviews from The Slave Narrative Project — a part of the Works Progress Administration from the 1930s — into a theatrical presentation of former slaves’ depictions of their experiences in slavery.

Todd Buker, the show’s director, said the project started when his father told him about Durham’s own Stagville, the largest plantation in the pre-Civil War South.

“Once I went out there and took a tour, I wanted to do all that I could to try and get people to go and find out about (Stagville),” Buker said.

Many of the former slaves were more than 80 years old at the time of the Slave Narrative Project interviews, and many had expected a lot more social change after the Civil War.

“(Former slaves) were promised something that never materialized,” Buker said.

“They weren’t given any land, they didn’t have any money — most of them didn’t have any kind of education, and as soon they were turned out on their own, they had nothing, no way to survive.”

He said his connection with the theater led him to the narratives and to adapting them in a way that would bring the interviews to life.

The first production of the show took place at the historic slave quarters in Stagville last year.

Cast member Gil Faison said performing at Stagville was a more personal and intimate experience for the audience.

“Just being in that atmosphere — we had lanterns and bonfires, and the stories were told outside,” Faison said.

“Being in that environment, it was so different from being on stage.”

Phillip Smith, another cast member, said it was really powerful to hear how the former slaves felt at the time of their interviews, so many years after slavery was abolished.

“It’s more than just a story — it’s the life of someone who could have been a doctor, or a lawyer, or a scientist, or a mother or a father, or whatever they wanted to be,” Smith said.

“They were denied that and they were given the title of slave, but that doesn’t remove their aspirations, desires, feelings or concerns or their religious beliefs.”

Barbette Hunter, a performer in the show, said dramatizing the interviews makes the material easier for the audience to relate to and understand.

“It makes it a little more engaging, so the learning process is a little more palatable,” Hunter said.

“To really give these people voices, and hear the crack in their voices when they’re sad or the anger in their voices when they’re mad.”

Buker said he hopes the audience will come away from the show with a better awareness of what slavery was really like for those who experienced it.

“None of these people were famous — it’s not Frederick Douglass, it’s not Harriet Tubman — these were regular people,” Buker said.

“They’re from right around here. These stories are local.”

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