Teatro Paraguas & Blackdom Productions to Present FINDING BLACKDOM - MITTIE OF SOUTH VIRGINIA STREET

Teatro Paraguas will present a staged reading of Finding Blackdom - Mittie of South Virginia Street, a historical dramedy written by Dr. Timothy E. Nelson, and produced by Marissa Roybal and Blackdom LLC.

In September 1903, thirteen black men led by Isaac W. Jones and Francis M. (Frank) Boyer, signed the Articles of Incorporation to establish the Blackdom Townsite Company to build the only incorporated all-Black town of Blackdom, New Mexico. By 1919, the town struck oil and established the Blackdom Oil Company. In its almost thirty-year life span, the idea and physical manifestation of the town endured drought, doubt, and revival, and in its last decade, became home to oil exploration.

In September 1919, Mittie (Mattie) Moore Wilson homesteaded a square mile of land three miles south of Blackdom. She struggled to meet proving-up requirements until she received help from a few influential people of the town. Moore, a bootlegger who ran a house of prostitution in Roswell twenty miles north of Blackdom, was one of the area's wealthiest citizens.

The main character in Dr. Nelson's play is not Mittie, but her right-hand confidante Dixie, played by Danielle Reddick. The play also centers on the character of Maceo (played by Loveless Johnson III), a traveler who has come to visit Blackdom. The elusive Mittie (Sasha McGhee and Dee Anaya) is omnipresent and appears at the end of the play.

The one-act play has intermittent talkback with Dr. Timothy Nelson, whose research focuses on the concept of Afro-Frontierism: people of African descent reclaiming their own history and culture and creating a new narrative that is based on their own experiences and perspectives.

Most narratives on the western expansion of the United States fail to mention the significant history and contribution of Afro-Americans, who settled as free men in the West after the Civil War.

Through his 2015 dissertation as well as his current outreach, PhD Historian Timothy E. Nelson's work uncovers and advocates for untold stories through various forms of art: academic books, trade books, screenplays, paintings, photography, videography, and by digitally applying his theory of colonization within the digital frontier.

Performances are Friday, June 24 and Saturday, June 25 at 7:00 p.m., and a Sunday matinee June 26 at 2:00 p.m.

Tickets are $10 suggested donation and will be available for purchase online at teatroparaguasnm.org. Reservations to purchase tickets at the door may be made by calling 505-424-1601.

To post a comment, you must register and login.