“THEY CALLED ME LIZZY: From Slavery to the White House”

Written and Directed by Kandie Carle
Sunday, JUNE , 2012 – 4:00 p.m
$10 at door, students free. wheelchair/elev. accessible
One-actor drama starring Stephanie Jackson is based on the true story of
the slave who became the dressmaker and confidante of Mary Todd
Lincoln (www.ehsco.org). For age 12 and older.There will be a meet-the-artist reception.
The North Hall artist gallery featuring the metal sculpture of Gene and Susan Flores of Cummington and abstract paintings of Jan Roby of Worthington is open before and after the event.

Born in 1818, Elizabeth Keckly spent 30 years as an abused slave in Virginia. She eventually bought freedom for herself and her son with loans from friends. As a free woman she started a dress shop in Washington, D.C. Her services attracted the Washington elite including the wives of Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis.

Through a turn of fate she became the personal tailor for Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of President Abraham Lincoln, at the White House. She was there with them during the tumultuous years of the Civil War and President Lincoln’s assassination. Keckly was often in the room with President and Mrs. Lincoln during some of their more difficult and private times.

In later years she wrote a book entitled “Behind the Scenes, Or, Thirty Years as a Slave and Four Years in the White House.” The book, full of personal insights and information, caused a scandal and met with scathing reviews. In a few short years Keckly went from entrepreneurial freedom to scandal and decline.

Performed in retrospect, the hour-long dramatic monologue recounting Keckly’s experiences reaches beyond a slave narrative to reveal a personal journey at one of the most momentous times in American history. Complete background information on the play and the biography of “Lizzy” may be found online at www.ehsco.org.
BIO
Stephanie Jackson, of Farmington, Conn., is a graduate of the University of Connecticut, where she portrayed on stage the ancient female African leader Yaa Asantewaa. She originated the role of Elizabeth “Lizzy” Keckly for the East Haddam (Conn.) Stage Company in 2006. She has also created roles in such diverse productions as Tiwanna Lewis’s social issues theatre piece “Slice of Life.”

All welcome.
contact: 413- 667- 5543 / www.northhallhuntington.org
back to home/events