EFSC Performing Arts Students Present Black History Month Play

February 14, 2017 - The EFSC Department of Visual and Performing Arts and the Titans Theatre Club will present the play Free Man of Color by Charles Smith in honor of Black History Month.

Performances will be held on Wednesday, February 22 at 12:15 p.m. and 7 p.m. on the Cocoa Campus in the Simpkins Fine Arts Center (Bldg. 4) in the Studio Theatre (Rm. 131).  The Cocoa Campus is located at 1519 Clearlake Road.

The play is free and open to the public.

The production tells the story of John Newton Templeton, the first man of color to attend Ohio University.

In 1824, Reverend Robert Wilson, the third president of Ohio University, brought Templeton, an ex-slave, to the college in order to groom him to lead free American Blacks back to Liberia, giving them their own country and removing them from the United States.

Templeton encountered racism from classmates and scorn from Wilson’s wife who, as a woman, had fewer rights than the ex-slave.  As graduation neared, Templeton learned what it really means to be a free man of color.

The play is directed by Janet E. Rubin and includes cast members Stephany Jones, Rhayme Spencer and Jacob Schneider.

For more information, contact Denise Haynes at (321) 433-7385 or via email at haynesd@easternflorida.edu