The Dennos Museum Center at Northwestern Michigan College will present, Leslie McCurdy in “The Spirit of Harriet Tubman” Friday, February 7, 2014 at 8 PM in Milliken Auditorium. Tickets are $10 plus ticket fees. Tickets may be purchased on line at www.dennosmuseum.org or by calling the box office at 231-995-1553. This production is part of the Embrace the Dream in Traverse City and is made possible with a grant from the Michigan Humanities Council.
Ticket holders to this performance will have free admission to the museum’s galleries prior to the performance.
To listen to an interview with Leslie McCurdy on Interlochen Public Radio about her performance, click here.
There are many plays about Harriet Tubman, but none share her entire life story like a visit with The Spirit of Harriet Tubman. Leslie McCurdy invokes the ‘spirit’ of Harriet Tubman as she portrays the life of the famous Underground Railroad conductor, recreating stories familiar and some rarely told, using words said to have been Harriet Tubman¹s own. Through it all we learn of the faith and conviction that drove Harriet Tubman to follow her dreams; the spirit of the past connecting with the present, inspiring her charges to have the courage to do the same in envisioning their future.
Born into slavery in Maryland, Harriet Tubman not only ran away alone to escape slavery, she returned to the south nineteen times to lead over three hundred other slaves to freedom in the northern United States and Canada. Her work as a nurse and a spy during the civil war was instrumental in helping the North defeat the South, thus forcing the abolition of slavery in the United States.
Leslie McCurdy captivates her audience in “The Spirit of Harriet Tubman” with only a trunk of costumes and a barren stage as her landscape. For a breathtaking hour, she embodies the “spirit” of Harriet Tubman and shares Harriet’s empowering story woven with words said to have been Harriet’s own. Leslie takes the audience through Ms. Tubman’s childhood, her harrowing solo flight from slavery, her dedicated involvement with the Underground Railroad, her victorious rescue mission during the civil war and her commitment to others in her later years. This inspiring solo performance, by an artist described as being “of exceptional skill and grace”, teaches of the faith and conviction that drove Harriet Tubman to follow her dreams; the spirit of the past connecting with the present, inspiring her charges to have the courage to do the same in envisioning their future. It has been called “brilliant!”, “a powerful, must see performance!!”, “something to be experienced by everyone!”
Named Outstanding Performing Artist of Windsor Ontario, Canada, Leslie McCurdy, has been performing for many years in Southwestern Ontario and the Mid-Western United States, a privilege her dual US/Canadian citizenship affords her. Also a teacher, with an honors B.F.A. in dance from the University of Michigan, Leslie was slated to go to New York to apprentice with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre when she literally tripped, fractured her hip, and fell into acting. While she has many theatre credits, Leslie is best known for the one-woman plays that she wrote and has toured with internationally for 16 years.
Leslie McCurdy will offer two performances for schools on Friday, February 7, 2013 at 9:00 AM and 11:30 AM in the Milliken Auditorium of the Dennos Museum Center. Call 231-995-1029 for information or to purchase tickets for the school performances.
The Dennos performance season is made possible with support from the Robert T and Ruth Haidt Trust, the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs, the Begonia Foundation with media support from WNMC 90.7, CMU Public Broadcasting and TV 29&8. Housing for our performers is provided by the Cambria Suites and Days Inn.