Most myths and legends are one-dimensional. Not so for the spirit of Harriet Tubman, brilliantly played by Leslie McCurdy in a one-woman play named for its lead character. Not Tubman in the flesh, but her spirit instead--and you’ll have to sit through the play to find out why she can’t rest just yet.
McCurdy penned this play fourteen years ago, taking it from blank page to stage-ready performance in less than a month. In doing so she reached back into a near-mythological figure’s past and drew forth the mantle of imperfect humanity. The mantle of slavery comes with it, too. How can it not, when Tubman was faced with it at every turn during her early life, and is remembered now for first escaping slavery herself, them returning repeatedly to guide others to freedom?
Thanks to McCurdy’s spooky ability to morph so believably from tottering old lady to robust girl-child and back again, we see Tubman at different stages of her life. It’s like watching a slide show, and in almost every single slide Tubman holds out that mantle of slavery and says, “This isn’t mine.”
But McCurdy and Tubman’s spirit, working together on stage, embody so much more than defiance. They distill the essence of how and why Tubman was so much like the rest of us in the room, bringing us inside the experience of her life. No idle bystanders here--when Tubman cringes at the sights and sounds of brutality during her initial escape, we see and hear them too. But McCurdy weaves enough sly humor through the play to save us from breaking beneath the burdens Tubman somehow bore.
The audience on Friday evening--McCurdy’s only public performance after a week of school performances--was a pleasant mix of shapes, sizes, colors and ages. And although no human should ever suffer what Tubman and so many other African-American slaves lived through, McCurdy’s message was never one of angst. Instead, she and the spirit she brought with her reminded us that we can be free, too, as long as we don’t subscribe to the fears other people try to teach us.
Most plays don’t have opening acts, but The Spirit of Harriet Tubman was preceded by local artists celebrating the start of Black History Month. Appearances included Black Arts North Academy, Our Hands Together, Underground Dance Company, and stunning local violinist Bryson Andres.
Yet as McCurdy pointed out during the question-and-answer session after the show, black history happened year-round -- not just during February. So hopefully we can look forward to seeing McCurdy again some other month, a special woman that holds up a singular spirit to mirror our own hopes and dreams of freedom back to us.
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