The Impact of “The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom”
This story mentions themes of racism and sexual violence that may be disturbing for some readers.
Written By Mia Molfetta
Arts & Culture
Winthrop’s Theatre Department’s production of “The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom” was originally written by William Wells Brown and later adapted by Dr. Marvin McAllister. It was a comedic yet raw masterpiece. The posters did not do any of it enough justice for how incredible the entire cast was from the delivery to the sets and clothing.
The topics ranged from the harsh truths of slavery, escaping for freedom, marriage within the environment of being owned by different families and the harsh belief that people thought slavery was the right way of life. The audience praised the play with its elements of comedy, singing, dancing, rapping and more, while also feeling the emotions of the events with grief, love and violence.
We meet the characters, Glen and Melinda, our enslaved married couple, who plan to flee to Canada to escape their plantations and live freely. Glen and Melinda are played by Amare Sims and Seyven Schlueter.
Dr. and Mrs. Gaines, the main family, own Melinda and truly show the cruelty of Southern slave-owners towards their slaves. Dr. Gaines takes a liking to Melinda, eventually sexually exploiting her, but Mrs. Gaines holds envy towards her, as well as the house slave, Hannah. Dr. and Mrs. Gaines are played by Taylor Morgan and Mary Truett.
Cato, a house slave, with many different titles within the play, is almost like the narrator. He is almost trusted by the Gaines family because of how much he “behaves.” He is shown to have freedom, but the audience is quickly reminded that he is controlled. Cato is played by Elijah Shanks.
Hannah, another house slave who is seen as rebellious, is always being tortured by Mrs. Gaines and receives more violent acts. She talks of free thought, freedom, and referencing her wants as a woman after her love, Sammy, is sold. Hannah is played by Hadiya Weaks.
The play starts with the journey of Glen and Melinda, but it also goes through deep discussion that each character has with themself about the state of their life and their world. It begins in the depth of harm and violence and ends in the freedom of Canada, with everyone full of joy for the first time in their life.
Throughout the play, we see Hannah lose her husband and be forced to marry Cato, so the Gaines can continue to control Cato and Hannah.
We see Cato wish that he could be a dentist – but the harsh reality is that as long as he would stay there he would only be a slave.
Glen and Melinda go through the struggle of both being convinced the other is dead, but luckily both running away in the end and finding each other, and the others in the group and going to Canada.
For Dr. and Mrs. Gaines, we do not see an ending, but this play is not about them. And, bad endings are good endings if the people are evil enough.
I had the luxury of chatting with Hadiya Weaks, who played Hannah. We had a deep conversation about the show, what it stood for and how it felt important to Weaks personally. When it came to the importance of the play affecting her as an actress, Weaks said it was an introspective process for her.
“I learned more about myself in the process, and also about my history in the process […] With studying books in the library, to reading the actual playwright.”
Weaks, a sophomore, shared that this was her first role in a Winthrop Theatre performance. She said she felt deeply connected with the role she received and that she was eager to learn as much as she could.
“A lot of the work we did was self-reflecting the majority of the way,” Weaks said. “[…] I felt really close to my character, we shared a lot of similarities.”
I was enthralled to ask her about her process with now having the character on paper. How did she do it within herself?
“When we got back from break, we started the process of grid work and I got the chance to really become the character, become Hannah,” Weaks said. “[…] I felt I already had part of her because of the qualities we shared. She has a servitude mindset, but knows what she wants; with moments like that, it becomes emotional.”
“I had moments of tears, but knowing I was portraying someone who was strong, I went in with that mind and truly embodied the character,” Weaks said. “[…] Just going through the motions with knowing her, and knowing her well, really helped.”
Hearing the way Weaks shared the process of this play shows the deep emotional connection it holds with the audience and the people involved. The audience spoke on the depth of the play, but they also enjoyed the comedic moments too – it was a nice medium.
“The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom” was absolutely phenomenal and is something that everyone should see at least once. It is a play written about the emotional and physical cruelty slaves endured; about how they were treated as if they were less than, when people suddenly forget skin color does not matter when we all bleed the same color.