New Stage Brings Fannie Lou Hamer To The Stage!

She came into this world 100 years ago and, without a doubt, left it a better place. This new play depicts the life of civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer as it recounts her path from sharecropper in Ruleville, Mississippi to civil rights activist for an entire nation. Through moving songs and stirring conversation, Sharon Miles channels Mrs. Hamer as she takes the audience through her inspiring journey.

In 1999, inspired by Hebert Randall's photographs of 1964's Freedom Summer activities in Hattiesburg, Frank Kuhn assembled quotes, news articles, SNCC files, letters to the editor, songs, and speeches into a documentary readers' theatre piece, called Voices of Freedom Summer, celebrating the people and events of that summer. Sharon Miles was a member of that ensemble, and to her fell Mrs. Hamer's incisive lines. For both Sharon and Frank this was their first introduction to that iconic sharecropper/activist, and they were both thoroughly engaged by the woman. Sharon continued to play Fannie Lou Hamer in Voices of Freedom Summer through revivals at University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg's Saenger Theatre, and most recently, in 2014, the Mississippi Museum of Art, produced by John Maxwell's Fishtale Group. Sharon also played Mrs. Hamer in New Stage's production of All the Way, deepening her relationship with the historical figure. In 2015, missing Sharon's characterization, Frank offered to create a solo performance piece featuring Sharon as Fannie Lou Hamer, and Sharon jumped at the opportunity. That was followed by two years of intensive research, drafts and redrafts, and rehearsals in Mississippi and New York, as they searched for the woman behind the icon.

"I was introduced to Mrs. Hamer before I had recognized the power of my own voice and before I had fully grasped the unspoken scars that you carry just growing up black in Mississippi," said Sharon Miles. "I recognized apart of myself in her. I saw members from my family, my church and my community in her. Fannie Lou Hamer's story challenged me, her faith inspired me, and her voice empowered me to embrace all sides of my identity. She helped me fall deeper in love with history and question who's controlling the narrative."

A premiere public reading of Let It Shine! A Visit with Fannie Lou Hamer was presented in October, 2017, at New Stage Theatre in The Mississippi Plays Series as part of the Eudora Welty New Plays Series.

UNFRAMED Series at New Stage Theatre presents Boy March 23-26 at The Warehouse Theatre 601-948-3533. Let It Shine! A Visit with Fannie Lou Hamer
March 16-18, 2018

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