One way to convince those who believe there were benefits to slavery is to subject those who espouse this POV to involuntary servitude. But a less drastic way to persuade slavery’s contemporary defenders that enslavement didn’t benefit those in bondage is for them to see Marion Zola’s new play “One Moment of Freedom.”
This gripping world premiere dramatizes a real life if largely lost incident that, alas, I’d somehow never heard of. But if history class curriculum and book writers have mostly missed this sizzling saga, Zola has somehow plucked it from obscurity, rescuing and ferreting Bet (Catherine Bruhier) and Lizzie (Kristal Dickerson) out of the forgotten yet essential annals of American history.
In 1781, the Black mother and daughter were the enslaved domestic workers in the Sheffield, Massachusetts home of Col. John Ashley (John Combs). (Slavery still existed in New England at the time.) After his daughter Alison (Katyana Rocker-Cook) acts cruelly, Bet flees to the home of attorney Theodore Sedgwick (Michael Robb).
Although illiterate and uneducated, the household toiler has overheard the highfalutin rhetoric of Sedgwick and his close friend Ashley plus other patriots discussing the anti-monarchy Sheffield Declaration, a petition for individual rights against British policies, in Ashley’s home, as Bet served them. Presaging Thomas Jefferson’s 1776 Declaration of Independence, this Massachusetts manifesto proclaims: “Mankind in a state of nature are equal, free, and independent of each other, and have a right to the undisturbed enjoyment of their lives, their liberty and property.”
Bet also “eavesdrops” when the revolutionaries discuss Massachusetts’ emerging Constitution. Somehow, this humble enslaved 36-year-old Black woman, whose African-American husband has died fighting as a soldier during the Revolutionary War, gets it into her head that these rights also pertain to her. Bet reportedly asked: “I’m not a dumb critter; won’t the law give me my freedom?” All hell breaks loose!
Bet lobbies Sedgwick to represent her in court, in an effort to gain her freedom from Bet’s “owner,” Ashley, who is his friend. Finally, at the cost of their friendship, the conflicted Sedgwick rises to the historical occasion and takes Bet’s case, one of America’s early so-called “freedom suits,” setting the stage (literally) for the clash of two courthouse gladiators. During a brief intermission, the stage’s domestic set is rearranged to become a courtroom, and as the proverbial curtain lifts on Act II, the legal battle of the titans, that is the dramatic highlight of this play, commences.
Sedgwick skillfully, articulately argues slavery is antithetical to the notions of liberty enshrined in not only the Massachusetts Constitution and Sheffield Declaration, but in the heart of the Declaration of Independence itself. Enslavement, Sedgwick insists before the court, goes against the grain of the very ideals that the American Revolution is being fought over.
In doing so, Sedgwick incarnates nothing less than a colonial Atticus Finch, who defended a wrongfully accused Black man in Harper Lee’s immortal “To Kill a Mockingbird,” for which Gregory Peck picked up a Best Acting Oscar in 1963. Robb’s Sedgwick epitomizes the description by Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville, that astute observer of early America, that attorneys are “the most intellectual section” of the US, “the most powerful barrier” against “the unreflective passions of democracy.”
But has Sedgwick met his match when he comes up against defense attorney David Noble Jeffrey Winner)? With Charles Laughton-like panache, the ignoble Noble launches a legalistic counterattack defending the sacrosanct notion of “property.” The scenery chewing (and I mean this in the best sense) Winner is riveting, cross examining witnesses, sparring with opposing counsel, delivering his summation to the jury and so on. You can’t take your eyes off of this veteran stage and screen actor, who trained with London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, appeared in movies such as “Forrest Gump,” in soap operas and numerous TV series, including “The Waltons” and “The Nanny.” His “Moment” performance brilliantly channels Laughton in 1957’s “Witness for the Prosecution” and Captain Bligh in 1935’s “Mutiny on the Bounty.”
His honor (Michael Kerr, who alternates in the roles of the judge, doctor and well-dressed man with David Westbay) seemed to me to be presupposed in favor of the defense. Courtroom stories are inherently dramatic because of the adversarial nature of the legal system, which innately drips with conflict. “Moment” is worth seeing just for this trial by combat alone – especially as such profound legal and philosophical principles are at stake – although there is much more to this two-hour or so play. A structural problem that Zola’s two-acter has is that while the battle of the bickering barristers before the bench is the apex of Moment’s dramatic arc, there’s about another 20-minutes of onstage action afterwards, a sort of anticlimactic third act (although technically there are only two acts per se, divided by one intermission).
Another problem is that “Moment” looks at enslavement solely from the economic point of view. Noble ignobly (sorry, I tried, but I just can’t resist a good pun) tries to justify slavery on the basis of Bet and Lizzie being the property of Col. Ashley. Race, racism and the notion of white supremacy – that Caucasians are genetically superior to people of African origin and are therefore justified in their domination and exploitation of the “inferior” Blacks – are never mentioned in this drama.
An additional dilemma for 21st century theatergoers is that “Moment” may suffer from “White savior syndrome,” wherein Blacks have little, if any, agency and a noble-minded Caucasian who champions their cause is the story’s protagonist.
Be that as it may, while her Bet is no fire-breathing rabblerouser Bruhier portrays her character in a subtle, subdued manner with a steely determination, who renames herself “Elizabeth Freeman.” Bet reminds us that while “lowly born” humble humans may not be as exalted in the social pecking order as, say, Col. Ashley, the freedom and well-being of the wretched of the Earth is as important to them as it is to the Grand Poobahs of the world.
With his stunning period apparel, costume designer Michael Mullen vividly helps bring the colonial/Revolutionary War era alive and is nothing less than a co-star in this production who should be remembered at awards time. The period authenticity is likewise enhanced by hair/ wig/makeup designer Judi Lewin, especially as those bewigged courtroom gladiators have at it in the legal arena. Linda Alznauer adroitly directs this production, with music ranging from period to classical to John Legend selected by sound designer Nick Foran.
Much to the credit of Marion Zola and the cast and crew, One Moment of Freedom – which takes its title from a moving statement by Bet – is a dramatic rejoinder to those currently seeking to dismiss or ignore American history, especially as it pertains to Blacks. Moment deserves – and demands – to be seen and celebrated by ticket buyers who relish well-acted rip-roaring yarns, the significance of truth in history and that the “all” in “all people are created equal” is not accompanied by an asterisk, singling out exceptions. All means all, and all in all this educational show is highly entertaining and well worth seeing.
One Moment of Freedom ran through Aug. 27 at Theatre Forty in Beverly Hills. Info: http://theatre40.org.
Ed Rampell is a film historian and critic based in Los Angeles. Rampell is the author of “Progressive Hollywood, A People’s Film History of the United States” and he co-authored “The Hawaii Movie and Television Book,” now in its third edition. This appeared at hollywoodprogressive.com
From The Progressive Populist, September 1, 2023
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