BLOOD DONE SIGN MY NAME: THE PLAY AT RALEIGH’S KENNEDY THEATRE MAY 28TH - JUNE 8TH
In Blood Done Sign My Name, Mike Wiley
brings to life the recollections of author
Timothy B.Tyson surrounding the 1970
murder of Henry “Dickie” Marrow in
Oxford, NC and the events that followed.
Marrow, who was black, was chased from
a local store by three white men after
reportedly making a crude remark to
one of the men’s wives. They brutally beat
Marrow then killed him with a bullet to
the head in view of multiple witnesses.
Despite the eyewitness reports, an allwhite jury acquitted the men.
RALEIGH, NC- The best-selling novel by
Timothy B. Tyson, is brought to life by
celebrated actor/writer, Michael Wiley in
Blood Done Sign My Name May 28th-June
8th at Kennedy Theatre. Blood Done Sign
My Name is a dramatization of the true story
of a racially-motivated murder committed
in Oxford, NC in 1970. The crime and its
aftermath still resonate today, as we grapple
with Stand Your Ground laws and our personal
responses to racism nearly half a century
later. Appropriate for ages 16+ (due to subject
matter and language).
“We are honored to bring this poignant
production to Raleigh. Dramatizing real events
is a way to not only learn history, but feel it,
and develop a personal connection to it,” said
Lauren Kennedy, Artistic Director for Theatre
Raleigh.
The town’s black community responded
to the events with an uprising that
destroyed downtown businesses and
several tobacco warehouses holding at
least a million dollars in harvested crops.
Tyson, who was 10 at the time, recounts
how the conflagration of events shaped
his life and offers all of us an opportunity
to examine our own roles in the complex
and often confusing racial fabric of
America.
Actor and playwright Mike Wiley spent the first
decade of his professional career fulfilling a
focused mission to bring educational theatre
to young audiences. His acclaimed work has
now expanded to performing arts centers and
universities nationwide and to film screens and
festivals around the world.
Wiley holds a Masters of Fine Arts from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and
has appeared on the Discovery Channel, The
Learning Channel and the National Geographic
Channel, profiled in Our State and American
Theatre magazines, and was named an Indy
Artist of the Year in 2012. He is a former
Lehman Brady Visiting Professor at Duke
University's Center for Documentary Studies.
Since 2010, Wiley has been awarded multiple
"Best Actor" awards at film festivals in the US
and Europe for the impressive Rob Underhill
short films Empty Space and Wolf Call.
Blood Done Sign My Name has twice been
performed by invitation from the city to
standing-room-only audiences in Oxford, NC
-- where its own horrendous 1970 murder took
place.
Serena Ebhardt (Director) weaves a complex
tale flawlessly. Acclaimed gospel scholar
and singer, Mrs. Mary D. Williams (Vocalist)
reinforces the action on stage with powerful
and moving renditions of spirituals such as Oh,
Freedom, Swing Low Sweet Chariot and Soon
I Will Be Done. Tracy Francis (Production
Manager), Michael Goolsby (Stage Manager/
Projections), Lauren Kennedy (Artistic
Director), and Michele Weathers (Managing
Director) complete the crew.
Single tickets are $22-$30 and are available at
www.theatreraleigh.com
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SPECTACULAR MAGAZINE | May 2014 | www.spectacularmag.com