USCHS is excited to offer an opportunity to enjoy a history-oriented LIVE performance—perfect for enjoying from the comfort of your own living room! On Saturday, September 12, we are hosting a virtual reading of Jean Parvin Bordewich’s play Now’s The Time, a dramatization of the policy debates and clashes of values central to the Reconstruction era.
This performance will not be recorded or available online to view after the event, in accordance with Actors’ Equity guidelines. This is a special opportunity to recapture some of the immediacy and communal experience of live theater. Grab your meal and/or beverage of choice, and enjoy the show!
Free advance registration is required to attend.
ABOUT THE PLAY:
Now’s the Time
By Jean Parvin Bordewich
Directed by Jennifer Welch
The nation is in crisis. The President is out of control. Congress is locked in a fierce contest against him and his supporters. Hanging on the outcome are the fate of the President, a race of people, and the future of the country.
After the devastating Civil War and assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, the United States faced a critical decision: Under what terms would former Confederate states return to the Union? Vice President, now President, Andrew Johnson was determined to pardon the rebels, guarantee white supremacy, and readmit the states quickly. Rep. Thaddeus Stevens led “radicals” in Congress who fought relentlessly for a different vision: a new society of full racial equality, where Black Americans would have real economic and political power, including ownership of land confiscated from Confederates, education, suffrage, and election to public office. The titanic political battle between them culminated in the first impeachment and acquittal of a president, and to more than 150 years of continued violence and discrimination against Black Americans.
ONLINE EVENT SCHEDULE:
Saturday, September 12, 2020
6:45 PM–9:00 PM EDT
This program will not be recorded or available online to view after the event, in accordance with Actors’ Equity guidelines.
6:45-7:00 PM EDT- Audience sign-in and pre-show music and images
7:00-9:00 PM EDT
- Now’s The Time play reading
- USCHS President and CEO Jane Campbell interviews historian Dr. Edna Greene Medford (Howard University) and playwright Jean Parvin Bordewich
- Audience Q&A
