Black history story turned 'spy thriller' takes the stage as play penned by Windsor, Ont., author
Windsor, Ont. author Carlos Anthony was not planning to write his first theatrical play last year, much less play the lead role.
But weeks away from The Price of Freedom premiering, he's balancing both.
The homegrown play tells a localized Black history epic remade into a spy thriller, and has already sold out its school showing. More than 400 students and faculty from the Catholic and public boards are on a wait list.
The story focuses on John Anderson, a man who escaped slavery in Missouri in September 1853. He evaded capture after stabbing a slave owner who tried to recapture him on his journey north to Windsor seeking freedom. It was that narrative that gave Anthony fresh inspiration for his first theatrical play.
"I knew this was a story that I had to tell and I wanted to tell it like a spy thriller, rather than the traditional triggering, traumatic underground railroad story," said Anthony.
"[We introduce] secret societies, I jump off of boats and trains, we have like four fight scenes. It's not going to be typical."
Arts Collective Theatre (ACT) first approached Anthony about the project last year, as a part of their 'ACT Co-lab' initiative, this year partnering with the Amherstburg Freedom Museum to mark the local Black history museum's 50th anniversary.
"[The museum] approached us, asking if we could do something, a ten or fifteen minute production," says director Chris Rabideau.
"In that moment I realized where we would go next. Not a ten minute production, but a fully realized show. [Let's] go to the museum, look at what's happening and what stories need to be told. And Carlos came back with the idea of John Anderson."
Rabideau and Anthony worked in tandem with local historians to bring the John Anderson story to life and capture the imagination of Black Canadian youth in a way unconventional for a typical historical play.
The story highlights what was at the time a technicality in the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, which allowed extradition back to the United States from British North America for certain crimes. John Anderson walked free after the stabbing incident was debated to be in self-defence as part of his escape.
"I had never heard of a story where an enslaved person was able to get away with murder, in self-defence, change laws in Canada and our relationship with Americans," said Anthony.
Anthony says he didn't originally intend to fill in the role, but after other actors fell through he stepped in initially as a joke.
"[Chris told me] there's six weeks left until the show. We're going to need you to make a decision. And I decided to accept it. I'm taking it as a learning experience."
For Anthony, the experience going from pen to stage has added an additional layer of navigating his own traumas when it comes to depicting someone like John Anderson, a story he wrote and researched extensively.
"[Being] one of three Black kids in school, anytime we learned about the underground railroad or the transatlantic slave trade, my peers looked at me as if I was an enslaved person," he said.
"It was very uncomfortable, and not much changed in high school," said Anthony. "That's the reason why we need to change the narrative. More Black youth in Canada are going to be proud of their culture, rather than being ashamed of it or scared."
The Price of Freedom opens to the public at The Capitol Theatre Friday, Feb. 28, with additional shows on March 1 and 2.
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
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