Vincent Victoria Presents THE SLAVE NARRATIVES Virtually

Recreating historical moments "virtually" is the modus operandi for Houston Theater Company Vincent Victoria Presents these days, but their programming is still dedicated to providing audiences with quality theatrical works inspired by great moments in African American History.

Their latest offering will be culled from the thousands of interviews and recollections recorded in the mid 1930's by the Federal Writers Project initiated by President Franklin Roosevelt to provide work to unemployed writers, librarians, and historians. The goal of the project was to gather as much first hand information from the former enslaved African Americans while they were still alive. Similar to projects that record the lives of former Holocaust survivors, "The Slave Narratives" are an invaluable insight into the world of slavery and life in the old South before and during the American Civil War.

Says company founder Vincent Victoria " These narratives are timeless and relevant today as African Americans are still fighting for total justice and freedom in this country. After reading many of them, I noticed that the former slaves all had extremely varying views about slavery and their masters and they were complex individuals unlike the simplistic ways that they were portrayed on film (Gone With the Wind anyone) during the time that the interviews were taken. These narratives tell us what the slaves ate, what type of clothes they wore and what type of cruelty they faced on the plantation.They were at times brutally honest about slave life and did not sugar coat the truth. Above all though, these narratives show that they were survivors as the average age of the former slave at the time was eighty five. As I was putting these together in a play format I have tried to give a balanced view and I used narratives from a wide variety of States. Still the peculiar institution retains a dark marker in the history of the United States that should not be forgotten or whitewashed."

The Slave Narratives will be performed on consecutive nights by Vincent Victoria Presents' team of actors September 26th and 27th at 730 pm on Vincent Victoria Facebook Page Live and on Zoom.

For more information visit http://www.vincentvictoriapresents.com.

*The viewing of the live streamed performance is Free but donations are kindly accepted.

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