To Be Remembered
Posted by Jocelyn Prince on 2/15/2008
Dramaturgy is awesome! The thing I love most about working as a dramaturg on a play like Harriet Jacobs, is that I get to combine all of the things I love most about dramaturgy: production research, new-play development and working as a teaching artist in schools.
Last week I had the opportunity to visit with students at my alma mater, Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park, for a post-show discussion. I spoke with them about Harriet Jacobs’ life as an abolitionist and activist after she escaped to the North and the legacy the students hoped to leave with their own families, communities and the world at large. After they completed a quick writing exercise, they shared their thoughts about Harriet Jacobs and their theater-going experience. Check out what these amazing students had to say:
“Harriet Jacobs’ legacy was powerful.”
“I have a tea set I’d like to pass down to members of my family.”
“I want to be remembered as a caring person who loves kids. I do community service with my church.”
“I want to change someone else’s life.”
“I loved the songs and movement in the play. I like how the songs incorporated history.”
“I liked that everything in the play was see-through. The design was really cool.”
“I want to be remembered in a good way.”
“I like scrapbooking and I want to pass down photographs to my family.”
“Seeing and visualizing the pain of slavery made the book more real to me.”