Monologues highlight N.C. history and set the framework for its future

There are many North Carolinians who shaped the state into what it is today. "Past Imperfect: Voices from N.C.'s History" tells the stories of a Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon, a former slave who became Mary Todd Lincoln’s seamstress, and Nina Simone, to name a few.

“The words 'Past Imperfect' refer to the fact that we all have a tendency to glorify and restructure the past to fit our own perceptions, agendas and biases whether they are accurate or not,” said Annie Taft, president of OdysseyStage. “In this play we are attempting to show these people as they actually were, and not how the lens of history chooses to view them.”

Taft said the monologues are very contemporary in a lot of ways because the social and political issues they address are still relevant today.

“(The monologues) reflect on where we are right now,” Taft said. “So many of these monologues could actually be contemporary characters in a lot of ways. So many of the struggles they had, we’re still fighting the same fights — for equality, for women and for relations between the races.”

The monologues present a diverse range of figures from North Carolina that have undeniably influenced the entire country, said John Paul Middlesworth, board member and actor for OdysseyStage.

“It all has to do with understanding ourselves as North Carolinians and even in North Carolina’s place in the overall country and world,” Middlesworth said.

Triangle Playwrights is a group of playwrights in the Triangle area, some of which contributed to writing the monologues for Past Imperfect. Keith Burridge of Triangle Playwrights wrote the monologues of both Elizabeth Keckley and John Brinkley, two vastly different individuals. 

Burridge said Elizabeth Keckley was a slave that was very badly abused, but eventually bought her freedom and was such a good dressmaker that she worked for Mrs. Lincoln for four years in the White House. When Abraham Lincoln died, Mrs. Lincoln turned to Elizabeth Keckley.

John Brinkley, on the other hand, is known for transplanting goat testicles to impotent men. 

Middlesworth portrays Bob Jones, a Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon in "Past Imperfect." Middlesworth said these monologues look at both the good and the bad in North Carolina's history. 

Anyone with an interest in history or a curiosity about who we are as North Carolinians would enjoy this show, Middlesworth said.

Middlesworth, who said he tends to shy away from one-person shows, believes that "Past Imperfect" is different than typical one-person shows because of the monologues' short length and unique contexts.

“We made a decision early on in the writing process that the characters were not going to stand up and explain themselves to the audience, but that they were going each going to have a specific imagined situation in which they are speaking to someone," Middlesworth said. 

"Past Imperfect: Voices from N.C.'s History" will come to Robert and Pearl Seymour Center in Chapel Hill on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 3 p.m and Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. at the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham. Both shows are free. 

"We have to always remind ourselves that things are a lot better than they were, but we still have a long way to go," Taft said. 

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@emmatcraig