In 1850, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, allowing slave owners to go anywhere in the country in pursuit of runaway slaves. The law also made it a federal crime to interfere with a slave owner’s efforts to recover a fugitive slave. A slave in 1850 could be worth the equivalent of $30,000 in today’s dollars, and slave owners were not slow in exercising their new rights.
‘RESISTANCE!’
The Actors’ Group
» Where: Brad Powell Theatre, Dole Cannery Square, 650 Iwilei Road
» When: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays to Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, through Aug. 3
» Cost: $20 ($12 Thursdays)
» Info: 722-6941 or www.taghawaii.net Opens in a new tab
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In 1851 a slave owner was killed in Pennsylvania while trying to capture a runaway slave. Several people were charged with treason, a crime punishable by death, for either actively resisting the attempt to arrest the slave or for failing to assist the local marshall in enforcing federal law on behalf of the slave owner.
The Actors’ Group production of "Resistance!" explores how the issues might have been talked out if William Parker, leader of the free blacks who defended the runaway, had sought legal counsel from Thaddeus Stevens, a congressman who was a prominent opponent of slavery (it is unknown whether the two men ever met).
Parker confronts Stevens at gunpoint and demands counsel. Stevens knows that helping Parker could cost him his seat in Congress and quite possibly prison time. The law is the law but Stevens hates slavery.
Quantae Love, impressive in "King Hedley II" at TAG last year, is powerful and nuanced as Parker. Eli Foster (Stevens) effectively articulates the complexities of the issues. Stevens voted against the Fugitive Slave Act but was required by law to enforce it.
Bianca Tubolino (Lydia Hamilton Smith) is appealing and true-to-life in the play’s third core role. Smith, who was one-quarter black, was Stevens’ housekeeper for the last 20 years of his life and seen by many as his common-law wife; the actual nature of their relationship is unknown. Tubolino plays her as a strong and fiercely protective woman who isn’t afraid to speak her mind to anyone, black or white, even when they’re pointing a gun at her.
S. Rick Crump (Marshall Henry Kline), seen last fall in TAG’s production of "Hollywood Arms," stands out with his work as the villain.
Most of the issues are addressed in arguments — about slavery, the experiences of blacks and whites, the relationships between men and women, and whether disagreeing with a law is sufficient reason to break it. There is also an argument about whether the congressman is going to eat breakfast.
The loud arguments serve as prologue to a scene where two characters explore equally compelling issues in subtler and more nuanced tones. The contrast makes that interlude an engaging romantic oasis in playwright Richard Caulfield Goodman’s provocative look back into our legacy as Americans.
