Toliver & Wakeman theatricalizes the Civil War experiences of two characters from two vastly different (and not so different) backgrounds. A version of the playwright’s great-great grandfather, Toliver is a young Black man born into slavery in Virginia who escaped to New York, changed his name to avoid capture, and mustered into the Union Army’s 26th Regiment of Colored Troops (NY). Wakeman is Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, a young white woman born in rural Upstate New York, who disguised herself as a man to flee family discord and mustered into the Union Army as Lyons Wakeman. Both are fugitives—one from the shackles of slavery, the other from the oppressions of society, and each is looking to define freedom on their own terms. A live fiddle player accompanies this poetic dream play about history and who we are today as a nation. 

PHOTOS BELOW: RUSS ROWLAND