Mike Wiley in “Blood Done Sign My Name" at the University of Dubuque -- January 22.
Monday, January 22, 7:30 p.m.
University of Dubuque's Heritage Center, 2255 Bennett Street, Dubuque IA
In a special evening featuring acclaimed touring artist Mike Wiley, a horrific piece of history will come to life with thrilling immediacy and power in the author/star's solo performance Blood Done Sign My Name, this arresting work -- being presented in the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center on January 22 -- hailed by Broadway World as "a fascinating story of one man's journey to understanding and coming to terms with his own community."
In Blood Done Sign My Name, Wiley brings to life the recollections of author and historian Tim Tyson’s award-winning memoir surrounding the 1970 murder of Henry “Dickie” Marrow in Oxford, North Carolina, and the events that followed. Marrow, who was Black, was chased from a local store by three white men and killed after he reportedly made a crude remark to one of the men’s wives. Despite eyewitness reports, an all-White jury acquitted the men. The town’s Black community responded to the events with an uprising that destroyed several tobacco warehouses holding millions of dollars in harvested crops. Tyson, who was 10 at the time, recounts how the conflagration of events shaped his life and offers an opportunity to examine our own roles in the complex and often confusing racial fabric of America.
Acclaimed actor and playwright Wiley has spent the last decade fulfilling his mission to bring educational theatre to young audiences and communities across the country. In the early days of his career, Wiley found few theatrical resources to shine a light on key events and figures in African-American history. To bring these stories to life, he started his own production company. Through his performances, Wiley has introduced countless students and communities to the legacies of Emmett Till, Henry “Box” Brown and more. His recent works include The Parchman Hour, an ensemble production celebrating the bravery and determination of the Freedom Riders who risked their lives to desegregate Southern interstate bus travel in 1961.
Wiley has a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is the 2010 and 2014 Lehman Brady Visiting Joint Chair Professor in Documentary Studies and American Studies at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In addition to his numerous school and community performances, he has also appeared on the Discovery Channel, the Learning Channel, and the National Geographic Channel, and has been featured in Our State magazine and on PBS’ North Carolina Now and WUNC’s The State of Things.
Blood Done Sign My Name will be presented the the John & Alice Butler Hall of the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center on January 22, admission to the 7:30 p.m. performance is $15-29, and more information and tickets are available by calling (563)585-7469 and visiting Dbq.edu/heritagecenter.
