Walking in just as the lights dim, she slowly tries to prepare herself for the stories she’s heard repeatedly about the hardships of slavery. She did not want to be there and she had a lot to do. Besides, she was only there to get credit for class but as the last actor departs the stage and the house lights come up, her eyes were filled with tears. These were the unheard voices of actual slaves preformed by the award winning Charles Gilpin Players.As he casually sits back and utters every word with the uttermost sincerity of his heart Assistant Professor Darryl H. Thompson admits that there were difficult moments at rehearsals for the production of this play.” My emotions ran so high while reading the narratives. My silence was not an option; I had to present the words of these former slaves and their children to as many people as possible. By listening to the histories of former slaves, the audience can experience, understand, and learn about the slave’s life during and after the Civil War.”
The Charles Gilpin Players of Prairie View are truly talented and put on an awesome performance last week in the Anne Campbell Little Theater in Hobart Taylor. For some time the unheard voices of the theatre department have gone just as unnoticed as those of the slave narratives which they portrayed. However, after receiving a standing ovation for last week’s performance things will change.
While the actors on stage take a bow, she slowly joins the small crowd on her feet and wipes her eyes. She was more than elated that she had come. She had been enlightened on things that she thought she knew so well. Just like the last words of the performance, she walked out the theater pondering the significance of what slavery meant to her. Each day ended as the previous one had, each one began as the previous one had, and each day expended itself as the previous one had.