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Naomi Wallace and Marcus Rediker will discuss their collaboration in writing the play, The Return of Benjamin Lay, which opens at Quantum Theatre in Pittsburgh on January 31, 2025.  They will treat the origins of the play and the process by which they wrote it, as well as the play's evolution over time, its premiere in London in 2023, and its political purposes and meanings.

 

Bios:

Marcus Rediker is Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at Pitt. His fifteen books have won numerous awards and have been translated into nineteen languages worldwide. He is the author of The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf Who Became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist and co-author (with David Lester and Paul Buhle) of Prophet against Slavery: Benjamin Lay, A Graphic Novel.  His latest book "Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea," will be published by Viking Penguin in May 2025.

Naomi Wallace’s plays have been produced in the United States, the U.K., Europe and the Middle East. Awards include the MacArthur Award, Obie Award, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Fellowship of Southern Writers Drama Award, Arts and Letters Award in Literature, and the inaugural Windham Campbell prize for drama. Wallace is currently writing the book for the Loretta Lynn musical, and the John Mellencamp musical Small Town. Wallace is presently co-writing a new play with Ismail Khalidi for Ashtar theater in Ramallah.

Event Details

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