HELEN'S HISTORY HOP Comes to Switch Theatre Company in February

Switch Theatre Company will launch their 2024-25 season of free-to-the-Public Theater Productions with Helen’s History Hop. The production tells the story of Helen Thomas, a precocious inner-city middle-schooler, who teams up with the Queen of Time to live through some important moments in Black history, and who learns a lesson in time to save a fellow classmate’s future. 
 
The play is the brainchild of Durham playwright John Frazier, who combined his love of history and science-fiction with his experience as an educator in writing the play. “I’ve worked with so many youth who feel as though history is for the old and the future is for the young. When in truth, history is for all. My mission through this play is to teach young people that the future is history that we just haven’t lived yet.”
 
Director Akili Holder-Cozart realized that a play for young audiences needed to bring more to the table than a traditional staged reading might. “It's really important to introduce this concept of ‘when technology meets art,’ as well as combining elements of animated performance,” says Holder-Cozart. “I'm excited to explore what walls can be broken within a normally limiting scope of a staged reading.”
 
The cast is a mix of seasoned performers both young and old. Jada Simone Harris plays Helen, whose history teacher “Ann Sestor” morphs into the ditsy-yet-well-intentioned Time Queen played by Joy Harrell-Goff. Brittany Evans and Justin Marcellus wear several different hats as historical figures Bessie Coleman, Harriet Tubman, and Robert Abbot, as well as a variety of characters from Helen’s future.  Rising stars from The River Church and BUMP The Triangle’s theater programs – Ayaan Lewis, Monee Reid and Reem Ziyad – play Helen’s classmates Jamar, Billy and Sonia, while narrator Nia Imani-Walker sets the scene and keeps the action moving.
 
Performances of Helen’s History Hop are Friday and Saturday, February 7th and 8th, at 7pm, in the Performance Hall at the Hayti Heritage Center, 804 Fayetteville St., Durham, NC 27701. Tickets are free, but reservations are required.