Animating the James & Ann Whitall House at Red Bank Battlefield was an interactive, site-specific theatre piece that took place on a Quaker homestead and a Revolutionary War battlefield, site of the Battle of Red Bank on October 22, 1777. The Gloucester County Cultural & Heritage Commission and various community stakeholders sought to engage audiences of all ages through an exploration of the day-to-day lives of the 18th century inhabitants of the homestead, the fort, and the surrounding community.
The commissioned theatre piece premiered in June 2015, after a three-year community-engaged theatre project that included meetings with educators and community members, public readings of the script in process, and extensive workshopping of the mechanics of the site-specific performance.
“We were blown away by the presentation at Red Bank Battlefield. To see all Joe and the team’s hard work pull together into that phenomenal finished product was a revelation. . . . When the word gets out, people will be making the site a destination!”
C R E D I T S:
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Diane Robinson Macris (producer), Talia Krispel (production stage
manager), Traci DiGesu & Márion Talán (costumes), Sarah Misch (dramaturgy & outreach), Robert Stevenson (dramaturgy & outreach), and Liane Tomasetti (dramaturgy & program evaluation). Performers: Mary Kay Adams, William Baugh, Matt W. Cody, Liana Costable, Daryl Embry, Jess Honovich, and Robert Stevenson. Photography by Eoin Kinnarney & Dave Coates