NewsRelease

“Wildfire: Black Hands, White Marble”
Performance at UNCG March 31

GREENSBORO – The story of Edmonia Lewis, a 19th century woman of African American and Native American descent who achieved fame as a neo-classical sculptor, will come to life at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro Monday, March 31.

The single performance of “Wildfire: Black Hands, White Marble” will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Elliott University Center Auditorium. The performance is free and open to the public.

The production chronicles the unique life and career of Edmonia Lewis, who was America's first professional sculptor of African American descent. The idea for the play, which was written by Dr. Linda Brown, grew out of the doctoral dissertation of Dr. Frank Woods, who is director of the UNCG African American Studies Program. Two of UNCG’s theatre faculty members, Marsha Paludan and Julian Cheek, are the play’s director and costume designer, respectively. A $10,000 grant from the N.C. Humanities Council made the play’s development possible.

Cast members are Brooke Wiley as Wildfire and Edmonia; Lakeetha Blakeney as the older Edmonia and the storyteller; Natalie Sowell as the Spiderwoman; Quentin Fears in the roles of Sunrise, John Mercer Langston and Frederick Douglass; and Jamie Dunn, Zack Hemenway, Leah Humphrey and Brandon Thorne in multiple roles.

Paludan and Woods hope that “Wildfire” can be taken to Washington, D.C., for performances at the Smithsonian or the Women’s Museum. “Edmonia Lewis’ indomitable spirit and creative fire have inspired all of us involved in bringing her story to the stage,” Paludan said. “The story of her life and her art is one that will inspire audiences, and it’s especially appropriate for Women’s History Month.”

Woods said he felt compelled to share Lewis’ story because she is rarely known for her work.

“The story of Edmonia’s life and work is unprecedented in the annals of American art,” Woods said. “Her story is so unique that it is improbable that anyone could have invented such an unlikely tale.”

The play reveals Lewis’ path to fame, which was filled with numerous stumbling blocks that might have sent many other young artists searching for a new profession. The daughter of an African American manservant father and a Native American mother of the Ojibwa nation, Lewis was willing to venture where no one of her ethnicity and few of her gender had gone before. She eventually moved to Rome to compete with the world’s best neoclassical sculptors. There, she found support among a small group of American women artists and joined in their struggle to gain acceptance and credibility.

The pinnacle of her career came when she exhibited a 1.5-ton sculpture, “The Death of Cleopatra,” at the prestigious Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876. She achieved worldwide recognition through hard work, an indomitable spirit and the uniqueness of her racial heritage, Woods said. The lessons inherent in her life make it valuable to the education of young people and to the general population.

“The story of Edmonia Lewis is one of perseverance and courage,” Woods said. “In a life that predictably would have been obscure and oppressed, Lewis was able to break the mold in terms of societal limits based on her ethnic heritage. This she did despite great adversity.”

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