1854

JACK SCHIMMELMAN PHONE: (508) 338-2000 (HOME)EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, DIRECTOR CELL: (718) 570-705555 VILLAGE ROAD, J-57 E-MAIL: 1854OPERA@GMAIL.COM

VINEYARD HAVEN, MA 02568 WEBSITE: WWW.1854OPERA.COM

BOARD OF ADVISORS Dr. Lorna Andrade James E. ThomasVICTORIA Haeselbarth Leigh B. SmithKate Taylor Marcia DraperDr. Elaine WeintraubConsultant Composer and Lyricist

Jesse WienerMusic Director: Heidi Carter

1854 . . . A FOLK OPERA©BY JACK SCHIMMELMAN

BACKGROUND (AS OF 4/19/2023)

We are proud to announce that our first sponsor and grantor is the Martha’s Vineyard NAACP. 1854 is also supported in part by a grant from the Martha’s Vineyard Local Culture Council, an agency that is supported by the Massachusetts Culture Council, by the Permanent Endowment of Martha’s Vineyard, the Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank, the Martha’s Vineyard Center for Visual Arts and the Mass Humanities Foundation. 1854 is produced under the aegis of the U.S. Slave Song Project (“USSSP”), whose founder and artistic director is Jim Thomas. USSSP is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation and serves as 1854’s not-for-profit umbrella. We are grateful to Ms. Leigh B. Smith for her generosity that has enabled us to move forward. We also are grateful for many private donations from the Vineyard community. If you wish to support our project with a donation, please go to our website www.1854opera.com. Our fiscal sponsor, US Slave Song Project, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) corporation. Your contribution will be deductible according to IRS rules.

1854 is intended to help empower the residents of Martha’s Vineyard by highlighting a crucial moment in the Vineyard’s, as well as our national history. I hope to make the performance of 1854 an annual event. Our goal is to promote a conversation regarding the African

Painting of Griot by Andrea Rushing

American experience in the context of Martha’s Vineyard and the attendant misunderstandings that may have developed through the years amongst different cultures.

Background

There were slaves bought and sold on Martha’s Vineyard. They were mostly domestics. Their numbers were not great. For the most part, one family would have one or two slaves. There was no institution that facilitated their sales. From whom and where Islanders bought their slaves is unknown to me. enabled by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, some merchant ships captured and returned slaves to their owners. Several also bought and sold slaves in the Caribbean. Whaling Captains did not engage in the slave trade or in returning slaves to their owners. Some Whaling Captains were abolitionists themselves. Captain William A. Martin of Chappaquiddick was an African American Whaling Captain whose grandmother was born a slave. One can surmise, therefore, that Captain Martin was an abolitionist. He is a character in 1854. The island community considered his grandmother, Nancy Michael, to be a witch and made her an object of derision and fear. She died a pauper when she was living in the house of Charles and Julia Vincent. She is a character in this folk opera, as well, as are the Vincents.

In summary, 1854 is an opportunity to allow the Vineyard community to witness a little known epoch of their history. Each family represented in the Townspeople chorus (“Citizens’ Chorus”) will be based on actual families who lived on the island in the mid-19th

century. The development of these characters starts with the signers of the original abolitionist petition. The members of the anti-slavery society, based in Edgartown, were Collector Norton of the Customs, Silas Luce, Benjamin Davis, Jr., Charles Kidder and Samuel Butler

Several Wampanoag tribal members, especially well known abolitionist, Beulah Vanderhoop, also populate the town meeting. Ms. Vanderhoop is a major protagonist in 1854. The Wampanoags created a stop along the Underground Railroad on their land then known as Gay Head, currently Aquinnah.

Our intended principal composer is Jesse Wiener who is a native Islander. Mr. Wiener grew up in Aquinnah on the Vineyard. He is a brilliant Harvard-educated composer. He is a songwriter, singer, multi-instrumentalist, music director, conductor, producer, copyist, arranger and orchestrator who has composed for film, television and theatre. NPR featured his choral work, Moral Courage, in 2011. Mr. Wiener will compose the music and lyrics for the Citizens chorus, Freedom chorus

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and musical score for the Griot. He is presently based in New York City.

We are fortunate to have Rick Bausman and the Drum Workshop on our team. Rick is an accomplished musician and will bring multi-dimensional talents to 1854. He will compose the drum score that underlies the piece. Brian Weiland, a Martha’s Vineyard composer and music teacher will compose original sea shanties (Whaling Captains). With this ensemble of composers I feel confident we will present to the Vineyard community a production of the highest caliber.

1854 is scheduled to be produced in September 2016. Our goal is to attract a wide swath of the year-round community, as well as visitors.

Synopsis

1854 is an imagined Town meeting happening at the Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard. It is a folk opera, simply and elegantly laced together from several elements. The piece will be site-specific utilizing the grounds and distinctive architecture of the Union Chapel. People are dressed as if they are going to church – in their Sunday best. I anticipate limited instrumentation, with an emphasis on strings, drums and African instruments. There are three choruses: the Townspeople (“Citizens’ Chorus”), Freedom Chorus (freed African slaves) and Whaling Captains, plus a contingent from the deaf community that creates its own special chorus through sign language and poetic body movement. The deaf community manifests a rich inner life as they speak with each other regarding the proceedings of the town meeting. Their use of hands, facial expression and body movement is poetic. 1854 will be signed throughout and hearing and non-hearing members of the town will communicate with each other as well.

In addition, I have conceived of an African Griot (see image above) conducting all of the choruses through dance, gesture and sound. In the context of this performance, the Griot embodies the rich cultures of the African continent. She is also the conscience of humanity (and this meeting), a link to the birth of civilization and is a bridge amongst multiple realities, seen and unseen. She, in fact, is the personification of Sojourner Truth. Her major aria sung just before a vote is taken is inspired by Frederick Douglass’ 1852 speech about July 4th.

The Citizens’ Chorus sits amongst the audience while the Selectmen are on a platform in front. The Griot roams on a platform higher than the audience, townspeople but lower than the Selectmen. After a series of choral debates, arias, for and against the petition to abolish

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slavery, a crescendo is reached, creating a cacophony of heat without a definitive vote.

The Citizens’ chorus freezes, as do the selectmen, and Freedom chorus. But not the deaf community. They keep chattering with each other through signing and dancing. They dance as well as sign, expressing their opinions. After doing their dance throughout the hall, they sit in their seats.

Suddenly, six Whaling Captains make a dramatic entrance into the chapel on stilts, thus demonstrating their dominance in the community. They sing about “How Long,” which talks about their long and difficult journeys and serves as a metaphor for the African American quest for freedom. The Freedom Chorus sings about their journey and how long must freedom be denied.

The dynamic of being heard but not seen through most of the piece is a metaphor that is true to the African American status during slavery. This is an environmental theatrical experience. The audience is surrounded by the music and action. No fourth wall (proscenium) is present, although there will be platforms that will help frame soloists singing their aria.

The debate culminates when the Griot sings her aria based on Frederick Douglass’ 1852 July 4 th speech . After many moments of conflict, humor and suspicion a vote to petition the government to abolish slavery is passed. The vote is not unanimous.

The African Freedom Chorus remains in shadow in the balcony, to be fully revealed at the end of the piece via a mirror that had been hanging over the selectmen’s platform and is slowly lowered silently after voting is complete. When finally in place it will reflect the audience, Citizens and Freedom Choruses in the same frame. The Freedom Chorus’ presence is always felt from beginning to end. Their music forms the basis of the opera. African drumming is present throughout the evening. As previously stated, The Freedom Chorus is heard and not seen until the last moments. In the last image reflected in the mirror the Freedom Chorus and Townspeople chorus reach out to the other. The scene is underscored with African drumming which builds into a crescendo.

Jack SchimmelmanExecutive Producer, Director and Writer

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