A Burning Bus, Hatred, Heroes: Freedom Riders at the Clemens Center
The Freedom Riders story is a crucial piece of American history – but how do you bring it before children? It is a vivid example of the power of nonviolent protest and the effectiveness of bonding to bring about change - great lessons for youth to learn. But the story is also a glimpse into how boundless hatred can be and how vicious the attempts to perpetuate racial segregation were in the Civil Rights era. That is a horrifying reality even for seasoned adults.
That was the challenge Mad River Theater Works took on when they started developing Freedom Riders, a new play which began touring the country in January in San Antonio, TX and pulls into the Clemens Center in Elmira, NY for two performances this month. Mad River Theater Works is a professional, not-for-profit touring theatre company that creates plays which combine drama and live music to tell stories rooted in American history. “As a company,” says Chris Westhoff, managing director and a performer with the company, “we feel like telling a story that is historical is relevant and valid in itself, but its real value comes in to tell us more about where we are now and where we are going.”
The play is set in 1961, in the heat of the Civil Rights movement. Whereas racial prejudice and injustices were still blatant around the nation, and segregation was still rigidly enforced throughout the Southern states, one of the places the US Supreme Court had specifically outlawed racial segregation was on interstate bus lines. The buses, therefore, became an ideal platform for protest. Groups of black and white Americans, mostly young, from the North and the South, decided to travel on the buses together to highlight both the enormity of the damage being done by racism and the power of peaceful solidarity between the races.
The characters in the play are composites, based heavily on the experiences of three of the original, real-life Freedom Riders – Diane Nash, Bernard Lafayette, and James Zwerg – all still living and prominent names in human rights advocacy to this day.
Playwright Jeff Hooper incorporates a great deal of live music, composed by Bob Lucas, to tell the story in the manner that Mad River consistently uses to bring American history to life.
The show stops by the Clemens Center as part of the School-Time Series named after Mary Tripp Marks, a Clemens Center founder who was “a strong advocate of introducing children to fine quality performing arts,” says Janice Slocum, the School-Time coordinator. Westhoff explains that, while Mad River’s audience is primarily youth, the company thinks of its plays as being appropriate for a range of ages, and finds that adults often enjoy them just as much as children do. As for students, Freedom Riders is suggested for children from third through eighth grade. Slocum extends the invitation, “Our School-Time shows are open to schools, home schools, and the general public.”
Available online approximately one month prior to each performance, School-Time presents a study guide to provide background for what an audience is going to see, and a preshow discussion helps set the stage for comparing anticipations to what actually occurs. Post-show discussions, in the theater or on the way back to school or home, are intended to stimulate students to respond to creativity and encourage creativity of their own.
On Mother’s Day 1961, a Freedom Riders bus was surrounded by an angry mob in Anniston, Alabama - and firebombed. Reports showed that the attackers actually held the doors of the bus closed, attempting to burn the Riders to death.
According to news reports, an explosion drove the mob back. No one was killed that day; the Riders managed to escape but were viciously beaten as they fled the burning bus. It didn’t stop the movement; there were subsequent rides, and subsequent beatings and attempted murders. “We knew that was a pivotal moment in the story,” says Westhoff, “but we also knew that we couldn’t possibly portray that for two reasons.” With limited resources, depicting a burning bus onstage would have been a huge challenge. “Second, we didn’t want to, because it was simply too violent to put in front of the children.”
As a theatrical conceit, Lucas composed “The Evening News,” a production number during which the company portrays the incident through the reporting and images that appeared on TV news broadcasts and in newspapers. This also highlights how crucial this kind of reporting was in exposing such inconceivable acts to the nation and the world, propelling an outcry for change.
According to Westhoff, children are enjoying the show. “There are times when the seriousness of the story and the content, by nature, must outweigh any kind of fun and theatrics, so it is asking a lot of them. For better or worse, we take them to a place where they have to ask questions about injustices and violence and the like,” Chris goes on, “so there’s a sadness to it […] But at the end of the day, they were clapping and loving it and laughing when it was time to laugh.”
When Westhoff speaks of the company’s home at the headwaters of the Mad River in Ohio, the warmth and pride in his voice is apparent, as is his gratitude to their supporters – the NEA, the Ohio Arts Council, and their neighbor, Honda of America. “We have a lot of work to do and that’s the message that I think we’re communicating to the youth: This is where we were; this is what people did, and we need to have courage and heart and work together and fight for justice.”
Freedom Riders cast includes Chris Westhoff, Jim and bass; Bob Lucas, John and guitar; Justine Appiah-Danquah, Diane; Shelby Holden, Norma; Destin Le’Marr, Bernard; Raiford Fairlcoth, percussion. The play is presented at the Clemens Center, 207 Clemens Center Parkway in Elmira. Performances are Monday, February 12 at 10am and 12:30pm. Performed by Mad River Theater Works, it is a presentation of the School-Time Series and is open to the public. Tickets are $5. Recommended for grades 3-8, running time is approximately 55 minutes. For more information call (607) 733-5639 ext. 248.
