Synopsis

A gay, Black doctoral student, Ronnie, returns to his childhood home to celebrate his great-great grandfather, TJ’s, 189th birthday. However, when he is about to head back to New York, TJ convinces Ronnie to take him back home to Virginia. When they arrive at a motel, they are thrown back in time to the insurrection lead by Nat Turner, where Ronnie is forced to confront the realities of slavery. A relationship blossoms between Ronnie and Hammet, a member of the insurrection, which is painfully severed when Ronnie is forced to go back to his own time realizing he cannot change the past. On the way back, TJ dies. While Ronnie is holding TJ’s dead body in his arms, he says, “holding history i’m holding history in my arms”.

Applications

This play has wonderful scenes that evoke many interesting questions. Topics include enslaved peoples, LGBTQ representation in the past, and satire used for a distancing effect. This play would be great to use in high schools in English/Humanities/Drama classes to read and probably not for performance. Additionally, this play could be used to study historiography. In Insurrection, there is a scene when Nat Turner takes Ronnie's evidence that Turner confessed to his crimes and reveals how unlikely it would be that he actually said the words in the confession. A history classroom could study this scene and the confession from Nat Turner and discuss how history is skewed by those in power to suit their narratives. Colleges should use this play for performance and scene work. Scenes such as Ronnie and TJ before they cross over to the past and Ronnie, Nat, and Hammett's scene toward the end of the play would be useful for this work. Nat also has a powerful monologue that begins with "Hush up".

Sample Activity

• (Before students read play) Students should be broken up into groups and each group assigned A, B, etc. then ask, "What does it mean to hold history?" "What history do you hold onto?" Give 10 minutes for discussion.

• Have the groups return and get a student from each group to share out what their group discussed.

• Next assign A to use the B group's answer, B to use C, C to use A, etc. Then taking the answer they heard from their assigned group they are to make a scene that reflects what they heard.

• Students will have 20 minutes to make their scene.

• The following ingredients should be in the scene:

  • • 1 main character and everyone else plays multiple characters

    • Scene should jump between present and past for main character

    • A moment of abstraction

    • The scene should end with something unresolved for the main character

    • Scene should be titled

• All groups perform and reflect on the following with all students: "What did you see in terms of holding history? " "How were the multiple characters used?" "What would the character do differently if they could go back ?" "How does regret affect the choices we make?"

Discussion Questions

1. Why does Robert O’Hara end the play with Ronnie saying, “holding history i’m holding history in my arms”. Following this quote, O'Hara types the words, “the BEGINNING”. What does this signify?

2. How does time travel and/or non-linear storytelling affect audience participation with a play?

3. Robert O'Hara directed the original production of his play. How does directing one’s own play affect the production?

4. Why use the theatrical device of having one actor play multiple characters?

5. What do you think Robert O’Hara means when he says about his work, "Everyone is welcome, and no one is safe?"