Freedom Is My Middle Name

"You got to have goals and dreams. You got to find love in your hearts!" With these words, and the help of a magic quilt, five urban students are taken on a journey into the past by Stagecoach Mary, an endearing, vibrant and powerful character from African American history. The students take on the roles of people from another time and place. Their first stop is Atlanta, Georgia, and the year is 1858. They meet Preacher Man, a conductor for the underground railroad who daringly gives escape routes in sermon and song. They travel to Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1878 and meet Mary Eliza Mahoney, a woman who went up against seemingly insurmountable odds to become the first African American woman in the United States to graduate from a nursing program. At the end of the play, the students return to the present with new-found understanding. They begin to realize that you don't have to be famous to make a difference...you just need courage to make a dream come alive. This play, filled with magic, excitement and humor received its highly successful premiere at The Open Eye Theatreew Stagings in New York as part of Black History Month. In a letter to the author, a young audience member commented, "This is the first play I attended. I never gave any play a chance. Now my mind is open to all sorts of ethnic plays and events." Suitable for touring.